Mr. John O'Dwyer:

The poles are quite an issue at the moment. I understand that two year's ago ComReg carried out a price review, which it does from time to time, and it came up with a regulated price for pole rental. It is €20 per year per pole, with each pole having two fibres. The problem is that this figure might sound modest for renting a pole, but whoever rolls out broadband to the rural areas will pass a lot of poles. When one multiplies it by the volume of poles, it suddenly becomes a big number. Another issue is that the regulator set the price in 2016 for the price of poles as part of the passive infrastructure work. My understanding is Eir will reflect this back by saying, "The regulator has set the price, so that is the price."