Mr. Peter Hendrick:

I thank the chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to discuss the national broadband plan again today. As members are aware, I am the CEO of NBI. I am joined by T.J. Malone, who is the CEO of NBI deployment and leads the team building the NBI network. In addition, we have senior management team members: Ms Tara Collins, responsible for marketing and communications, Barry Kelly, who is in finance, and Ms Jenny Fisher, who oversees governance and the interface with the Department with responsibility for communications.

I thank the committee for their attendance at our offices in mid-October when we also took the opportunity to witness the operations in a nearby deployment area. It was a pleasure to present first-hand how the NBI network is being deployed and I strongly believe these field trips are informative and helpful as it is always hard to convey the size, scale and complexity of the NBP without this context.

As the CEO of NBI, I remain incredibly proud of the work our team is delivering, particularly against a backdrop of the turbulent conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Across the project, we have already made major achievements. Almost 294,000 premises have been surveyed, of which more than 252,000 are designed or are in detailed design. These activities are vital precursors to the main build and are continuing at pace. It is the survey and design activities that are creating the pipeline for the build works and, ultimately, for premises to be passed. Some 54,450 premises are currently able to place their order via their preferred retail service provider. There are more than 154,000 premises constructed or under construction. For context, the original plan would have seen us at approximately 180,000 premises at this stage of the programme. Some 454 broadband connection points, BCPs including schools, have been installed by NBI. Nationally across all 26 counties, we have BCPs and schools connected. We have also increased our minimum speeds from 150 Mbps to offer 500 Mbps as the minimum speed, as well as offering 1 GB and 2 GB products.

We recently announced we are delivering high-speed broadband infrastructure to six islands off the coast of counties Donegal and Mayo. In our view, building this world-class infrastructure now ensures that all people and businesses on the islands will have access to a broadband network capable of supporting the communications, information, education and entertainment requirements of current and future generations.

Some 50 retail service providers, RSPs, have already signed up to sell services on the NBI network. This is expected to bring significant benefits directly to consumers and businesses where competition between RSPs ensures better quality and an increased range of products, all being offered at competitive prices.

Since contract award, NBI has built an organisation to deliver the project with predictability and pace. As we roll out the network, we have encountered a number of issues, the majority of which have been beyond our direct control, meaning it is difficult to predict completion dates for premises with absolute certainty. While this is inevitable in the early days of delivery of a project of this nature, I appreciate that it can cause some frustration when seeking to communicate with stakeholders. In relation to 2022, it is important that I provide some context to the size and scale of our current work that is under way and how the volume of activity has substantially increased. As mentioned previously, right now more than 154,000 premises are either constructed or under construction. The equivalent figure this time last year was approximately 19,000. When we appeared before the committee last September, the same metric was 108,000. Members can see how this is ramping up and how it will directly feed into the premises passed and connection numbers in time. We believe this metric is the leading indicator in terms of delivering the programme. Having such a significant volume already in the pipeline means that the capacity is there to move through the various stages of build to completion and ultimately, to get users connected to this vital infrastructure.

Additionally, we are implementing a series of initiatives that lend confidence to delivery in 2022. We have contracted with Eir to increase the volume of pole replacement and duct installation. This commenced from 1 October 2021. We have submitted all of the Eir Make Ready packs required to support the build in 2022 to Eir for validation. Eir has provided committed start dates. We have now awarded contracts to our build partners for 195,000 premises. Other operational efficiencies and experiences gathered from the initial deployment areas are being industrialised to assist with project delivery. For example, 35 of the 40 section 254 licensing requirements to support the 2022 deployment have already been submitted to the local authorities. By way of contrast, NBI was only able to submit the majority of the section 254 licences requirements for 2021 after the new process supported by the local authorities was launched in May of last year.

As the Eir make-ready works are completed in advance of NBI's contractors commencing the main works and we incorporate the lessons we have learned in the past 12 months into our planning processes, we are confident that we will be able to provide greater accuracy and predictability in future projections for the programme. We also believe that it will be possible to increase the trajectory of the deployment programme over the coming years.

Turning to other matters, I can appreciate that some recent media attention on the shareholder structure of NBI may have caused concern for members of the committee. I would like to draw members' attention - and that of the public - to assurances from both NBI and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications confirming "the ownership structure remains as it was at the signing of the contract". As a business, we are concerned about a series of inaccuracies and-or misleading claims in certain media reports surrounding our shareholdings and broader financial matters, most notably reporting that suggests subsidy payments to NBI were somehow used for reimbursing shareholders for bid costs associated with the tender process. I want to make it abundantly clear and categorically put on the record that the subsidy provided by the State is in satisfaction of NBI delivering defined milestones under the project agreement. NBI has not been and will not be paid by the State if it does not deliver these milestones. We are seeking to resolve the media inaccuracies and misrepresentations on an ongoing basis.

I would like to conclude by saying that at NBI, we are acutely aware of how vital reliable, high-speed broadband has become to our lives. We believe that despite the extreme and turbulent conditions faced throughout the project to date, the work of our team provides a platform and gives us confidence to deliver the project on time and on budget. We welcome the opportunity to take questions from the committee and look forward to its continued support in the delivery of this project for the citizens of Ireland.