Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 27 January 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

National Broadband Plan Update: National Broadband Ireland

Photo of Gerry HorkanGerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to get too bogged down in this but I am not sure whether anyone else has developed this point. Is it fair to say the State is basically paying for the building of the network and, ultimately, the investors' money is going into making sure there is working capital and a resource there to keep the system ticking over once it has been built? The State is paying for the building of the network and NBI will make its money from the customers who sign up. Effectively, most of the costs are fixed at that point. I presume the variable cost per consumer is relatively low. The beauty of networks, whether a television network or any other kind of network, is that although there is a significant infrastructural cost - the State is funding much of that cost - it is then up to NBI in this case to get the take-up as high as possible to get that back. Mr. Hendrick stated that at this point the shareholders have put in €100 million or €102 million. Is that the figure referenced in terms of-----

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