Ms Carolan Lennon:

First, on where the €1 billion comes from, it comes from us applying the same criteria to building in the intervention footprint for those rural homes as we have applied in the build for the 300,000. We would use the additional fibre that we built as part of our 300,000 roll-out and we would use those connection points that exist to extend out further into the intervention area. We would use all our own poles and ducts. Obviously, they are in place. We would use our access team, our build and design team, and the current contractors we have in place, and we would use our own wholesale team to sell the products. We would apply the same connection model that we use for the 300,000, that is, we would charge and operate at €170.

Our connection rules would apply. For example, if a person wants a connection in our 300,000, we will do an overhead connection for the customer. We will not build duct for the customer. We will pull fibre to an existing duct, but if it is blocked, we ask the customer to unblock it. If a customer does not want overhead and wants underground, we will ask the customer to supply his or her own duct. We would apply all of those criteria.

We would also apply the same repair service-level agreement, SLA, to the intervention footprint that we have for the 300,000 and the rest of the country, and we would apply the same regulated pricing. We are just finishing 340,000. We have a very good grip on the costs.