Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the procurement process to appoint a bidder for the State intervention network is now in its final stages, with the bidder's final tender with my Department officials for assessment. As I have noted in my previous response, the Government's priority is to bring the procurement process to a fair and impartial conclusion as quickly as possible and I will bring a recommendation to Government in the coming weeks.

The tender for the national broadband plan State intervention network is technology neutral and does not mandate the delivery of service by any specific material or infrastructure. This means that selection of the most appropriate infrastructure to use as part of the roll-out of the network is and was a matter for the bidder. That notwithstanding, the bidder has indicated to my officials that it intends to utilise both private infrastructure, belonging to Eir, and State-owned infrastructure, the MANs, to deliver its solution.

My Department maintains a register of infrastructure owners, both commercial and public. This register is available on my Department's website and remains open to new entries. The register is available for commercial operators to use for the purposes of engaging with infrastructure owners, including the bidder.

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