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Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

The National Broadband Plan hangs in the balance as Eir 'reluctantly' quits the project

Only one firm is left in the running to build the long-delayed network.

Updated 6.44 pm

EIR HAS WITHDRAWN from the bidding for the National Broadband Plan, leaving a question mark hanging over the State’s rural broadband rollout with only one firm left in the running for the contract.

It has been confirmed that the company has bowed out from the process, which comes as a major setback for the government’s already-delayed plans to bring speedy broadband to 540,000 homes and businesses in rural areas.

According to the Minister for Communications Denis Naughten, Eir decided to exit the National Broadband Plan because of “commercial, regulatory and governance issues”.

“The company invested significant time and resources to the process and their withdrawal from the process at this late stage is regrettable,” the minister said through a statement.

In a statement, the former State-owned telecoms company said it had made its decision:

based upon the significant commercial issues and complexity within the tender process, together with growing uncertainty on a range of regulatory and pricing issues that reside outside of the NBP process.

“The company’s board has decided that the risks are too great for its continued participation in the NBP. Therefore, Eir has  taken the difficult decision to withdraw from the tender process,” it said.

As previously explained by Fora, the National Broadband Plan has hit a number of stumbling blocks since it was first announced in 2012. It took until 2014 for the ‘stakeholder consultation’ phase of the project get under way.

It’s been estimated that 840,000 premises have been targeted as being in need of high-speed connections.

Eir has committed to rolling out broadband to 300,000 of those, leaving 540,000 that need State help under the National Broadband Plan.

It is that latter tender process that Eir has now pulled out of.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told reporters this evening that he is not sure of the implications of Eir’s withdrawal but said the government is keen to conclude a contract.

“Those 500,000 rural homes and premises are really important, as important as rural electrification back in the 30s and 40s and we are keen to concluding this contract and start laying fibre as soon as we can,” Varadkar said.

Last year, it was dealt a significant blow when Vodafone-ESB joint venture Siro withdrew from the bidding.

Eir’s decision to exit will leave just one company, Enet, in the bidding for the State contract, leaving open the possibility that the government will need to scrap or restart the tender process in order to achieve a good deal for taxpayers.

Enet has since issued a statement insisting that its consortium – which includes utility company SSE – is still committed to the project.

“We recognise that this procurement is long and complicated, but we look forward to our continued engagement with the department on the remainder of the process,” Enet chair David C McCourt said.

Speaking to reporters this evening, Minister Naughten said the fact that just one bidder remains means the process could now be sped up with work beginning much quicker.

“I spoke to David McCourt today, they’re very anxious to deliver on this project because they see this very much as a shop window with which to securing other similar contracts across Europe,” he said.

Eir has been proceeding with its own rural broadband rollout, a move that took 300,000 premises off the list for the State-subsided National Broadband Plan.

In July of last year, Communications Minister Denis Naughten hinted that work on the National Broadband Plan wouldn’t commence until the end of 2018. It was previously stated that a tender contract for the project would be signed by mid-2016.

Another delay to the National Broadband Plan would be a major blow for businesses and residents in rural Ireland.

The country has habitually scored poorly in comparison to other EU countries when it comes to the percentage of households that have access to broadband.

With reporting by Rónán Duffy and Christina Finn. 

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Written by Conor McMahon and posted on Fora.ie

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    Mute dick dastardly
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:23 PM

    Look out king Dennis will be awarded the main contract for this from his blue shirt pals

    374
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    Mute Hurt Stoogie
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:00 PM

    @dick dastardly: yawn

    92
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    Mute dick dastardly
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:11 PM

    @Hurt Stoogie: go to bed so

    156
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    Mute Niall Ó Cofaigh
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:40 PM

    Once upon a time we had a national phone service, postal service, electric and gas network, air, bus and rail service but over time we decided to sell these off or privatise the services. With this comes the commercial necessity to make a profit over service provision with the consequential inability to have a national plan unless it is also commercial.

    The idea that essential infrastructure can be privately owned exposes us to commercial risks and also to having essential infrastructure owned by individuals or companies outside of Ireland.

    Maybe An Post could consider getting involved in an operation like this… It does take money but over time this can be recouped with service charges. Whatever happens we will become a 3rd world IT country if we cannot provide broadband to our residents and it will undermine the planned saving of government (and others) if people cannot do their business on line. In fact we are getting to the point were some insist on “on line” interaction despite not having rolled out the “on line” option to everyone

    188
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    Mute David Condon
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:14 PM

    They already sent letters raising prices to pay for this!

    184
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    Mute ed w
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:19 PM

    When eircom were sold the infrastructure was sold along with them. This is where the problem lies. Eir know they’ll are the only company that can deliver fibre to the home in large parts of the country. A national broadband plan not run by eir won’t be worth the paper it’s written on.

    161
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    Mute Joe Conlon
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:32 PM

    @ed w: could d esb supply it somehow using their network?

    45
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    Mute Ian McNally
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:58 PM

    @Joe Conlon: that was what the vodafone bid was planning to do until they pulled out

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    Mute ed w
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:08 PM

    @Joe Conlon: as far as I can siro have cherry picked easy areas to deliver there service to and have shown no interest outside of major towns.

    31
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    Mute Paddy
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:56 PM

    @ed w: a private company cherry picking the best bits. No surprise really.

    25
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    Mute thomas patrick
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:09 PM

    @Paddy: and why not? As a private company they are out to make profits .

    16
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    Mute Locojoe
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    Jan 31st 2018, 10:01 PM

    @thomas patrick: ESB are not private. It is a semi state company.

    5
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    Mute Niccolo Saccho
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:09 PM

    Another fine Fine Gael mess.
    Will Dennis Naughten now be held accountable for this fiasco?
    I doubt it.

    123
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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:14 PM

    @Niccolo Saccho:
    Denis Naughten is not a member of FG.

    14
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    Mute niall
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:25 PM

    @P.J. Nolan: you can take the man out of FG, but you can’t take FG out of the man. He was and always will be a FGr

    66
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    Mute Father Hody Commody
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    Feb 1st 2018, 7:45 AM

    @P.J. Nolan: Lame. Once a FGer, always a FGer

    4
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    Mute Dave barrett
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:27 PM

    Ah well its back to the bean cans and string.

    82
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    Mute Declan Moran
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:54 PM

    @Dave barrett: so true Dave. So much for being the so called high tech hotspot of europe. Well once you’re inside the M50 i guess

    86
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    Mute Stephen Brady
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:22 PM

    @Declan Moran: not necessarily. I live in D3 and can only get 10mbps and that is on the non broadband with sky. Eir had me on efibre with speeds of 3mbps and refused to take me back to the old cable. Don’t have a tv cable due to neighbour can’t get any other internet provider to provide a faster service

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    Mute Dave barrett
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:41 PM

    @Stephen Brady: yr lucky at that. I had to wait nearly 12 weeks for them only to tell me that i could get broadband but the speed would only be 5 mb . I could walk to the library 5 miles away and be back with the info i would need before i could get it on the internet, it would be so slow

    13
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    Mute No One Important
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:08 PM

    As much as I like Ireland, it really will remain backwards.

    80
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    Mute Chris Kirk
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:03 PM

    With Brexit just around the corner, what foreign investor would want to set up here without a viable broadband plan.
    With no houses and no broadband Ireland is the last place anyone would want to come.

    67
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    Mute Andy Cross
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:32 PM

    I live in a rural area and Eir upgraded the system 150 m.b. great you think ? Trying to convince Eir that they did this while trying to sign up over 2 months ,.using my eir code to be told ” not in your area ” the “exchange ” cant take any more ,i gave up after 2 months and dealing with 15 different people through their call center ,,Tried Vodaphone who can give me 2 m,b, max .Dreadful non service ,

    56
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    Mute Tricksy
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:45 PM

    @Andy Cross: the cables are probably oversubscribed in your area or need upgrading ? In any case you will only then get a low mega bit b/b .

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    Mute Adrian
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:00 PM

    Leo talking about internet security today and they can’t even roll out national broadband. Putting the cart before the horse.

    50
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    Mute ed w
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:22 PM

    I don’t know what enet do but in my experience they are worse than eir. We are trying to find out what services they can provide with a 14 year old fibre ring they are supposed to manage and they don’t reply to enquiries.

    52
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    Mute Tony Ruth
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:17 PM

    I live in Dublin 13 and eir can not offer me high speed broadband

    43
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    Mute Tricksy
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:37 PM

    Eir , Eircom , telecom eirann , al sold to greedy vultures like o Reilly , smurfitt , Dutch investor s etc , through the last number of years . The government were up to their knees in the selling and privatisation , initially sold too high a price from Mary o rourke . Surely broadband should have been rolled out before all the privatisation took place and assets sold to their buddies .

    48
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    Mute Declan Moran
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:52 PM

    This has just been an unmitigated joke and disaster from day one. We might get broadband sorted by………. um not sure

    53
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    Mute ed w
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:07 PM

    We have had 2 regional broadband plans in place in donegal. One from a wireless operator and one supplied by 3 broadband. Neither operator was ever taken to task about there lack of ability to deliver the promised service. At least with eir looking at there current rollout they did show some promise that they may actually be capable of delivering a service.
    Let’s just squash more people into dublin then.

    36
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    Mute Ciaran Halpin
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:12 PM

    @ed w: who is the “we” you refer to?

    7
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    Mute Nicholas Kelly
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:12 PM

    Was bound to happen with Naughten only a few days ago declaring he was going to ignore the regulator and make it law to force the telecoms (eir) to sell access at reduced prices, to his liking, to encourage competition

    Well he didn’t think that through much at all did he!

    33
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    Mute Joseph Caulfield
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:12 PM

    They can ping a signal to you using an “aerial” on the roof and has delivered relations of mine 25mb broadband. Why they dont just give grants like they do for boilers, insulating house etc and let people go ahead and get the broadband installed themselves. The Department has made this over complicated and its gone on now for how long yet many people have no broadband or 1-2mb.

    33
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    Mute JustOneScoop
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:22 PM

    @Joseph Caulfield: 25 mb is not broadband and does not meet the definition of broadband. Wireless should not be deemed acceptable to anyone . We will race behind in the technology stakes and other European countries will fly past us. Ridiculous as usual

    21
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    Mute Gerard O'Sullivan
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    Jan 31st 2018, 9:35 PM

    @JustOneScoop: not a valid argument. With the evolution of LTE and fixed wireless technology, deliveribg 100 Mbps wirelessly is possible. Soon, Gigabit connectivity will follow. You’d have the country covered in 12 months. A typical family home in a rural area does not need 1000 Mbps. A typical SME doesn’t need 1,000 Mbps unless you have a massive work force. Time to go back to the drawing board.

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    Mute Joseph Caulfield
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    Jan 31st 2018, 11:13 PM

    @JustOneScoop:
    Well it solved my relations problem and a relation can now work from home, the kids can watch netflix etc. People need to get out there and find a solution and not always wait for the state to solve it for them. definitions of broadband are academic to the majority who just want to use the internet on a stable and quick solution.

    7
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    Mute JustOneScoop
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    Jan 31st 2018, 11:14 PM

    @Gerard O’Sullivan: Hi Gerard I work in the sector and am fully versed in LTE and the latest so called 5G provision. Neither of which are comparible to fibre. No one is arguing any family needs 1000 mb rural or otherwise but your assertion that a modern business can operate on wireless only is frankly laughable. Wireless is used as a redundancy. Why do I know this ? Because I spec these fail safes. We will be ridden over by smaller European nations who have their shite together if this continues on as it has under FG . There are civil servants behind this mess that need to go.

    11
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    Mute Gerard O'Sullivan
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    Jan 31st 2018, 11:21 PM

    @Joseph Caulfield: agree Joseph. Was commenting on the other chap’ s comment

    1
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    Mute Gerard O'Sullivan
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    Jan 31st 2018, 11:23 PM

    @JustOneScoop: yes, its a healthy debate. All’s were hearing from the state these days are apologies. They’ll just have to put more cash on the table I’d say. Their effort to bring down Eir’s rental costs was the nail on the coffin. Will be interesting to see how it fairs out.

    2
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    Mute Tricksy
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    Feb 1st 2018, 12:08 AM

    @JustOneScoop: rot are not going to invest in a massive structure to roll out b/b to rural areas where they are too far and isolated from an exchange , and if they did then their competitors can share it ! So the whole thing makes no sense as a business venture , while joe bloggs pays the price

    1
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    Mute Tricksy
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    Feb 1st 2018, 12:09 AM

    @Tricksy: eir. Not rot sorry

    1
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    Mute mike scott
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    Jan 31st 2018, 5:48 PM

    How do other countries of similar size and or density manage these things?

    28
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    Mute Paddy
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:59 PM

    @mike scott: much better than here.

    26
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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:16 PM

    @mike scott: 150mbps here in Burgas, Bulgaria, 17.50 euro a month (35 Leva), TV channels thrown in as part of the deal.

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    Mute mike scott
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:25 PM

    @Dave Doyle: good value there. Albeit I’d imagine the cost of living is lower there?
    Surely someone on the rollout team has looked at what Denmark (for example) has done?

    6
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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Jan 31st 2018, 8:00 PM

    @mike scott: The cost of living is lower. For the poorest country in the EU they do some things quite well. A half liter of beer is 50-75cents depending on where you go. No real pubs though.

    11
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    Mute Me_a_monkey
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    Jan 31st 2018, 11:18 PM

    @Dave Doyle: not only that but there’s probably less regulation, red tape, health and safety, insurances, unions which all add to the cost of delivery or basically anything.

    4
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    Mute DAN PROUDMAN
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:43 PM

    , IT WAS ON THE CARDS, I’M NOT SURPRISED BUT I AM CONVINCED THAT WHEN IT GETS OFF THE GROUND FINALLY RUPERT MURDOCH WILL BE INVOLVED, LIKE HIM OR NOT, HE USUALLY KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING.

    21
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    Mute Shakka1244
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:47 PM

    @DAN PROUDMAN: Sorry, I can’t hear you

    77
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    Mute Ciaran De Bhal
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:57 PM

    You’ll have to speak up, I’m wearing a towel.

    63
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    Mute Joseph Dempsey
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:16 PM

    Yet more farce, Eir not happy at being told they have to permit access to their network, you know the one paid for by tax payers over decades and then sold on at a loss, the government equally are to blame, they seem to forget Eir is a private company, no longer opporated at the whim of the state. Years ago there was the national broadband scheme that worked well but again government would not commit to additional investment and that operator F@$KED right off leaving 10′s of thousands high and dry. there is zero will, despite the horse s@$t from the minister responsible to get this mess sorted out, once and for all

    39
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    Mute Gerry Ryan deG
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    Jan 31st 2018, 11:44 PM

    @Joseph Dempsey: Mary O’Rourke might have all the answers to this.

    2
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    Mute phil
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:09 PM

    Its over priced to begin with. Vodafone can provide 300 MB/S for 65 quid with Sir its 53 for 6 months, 58 for 6 months then it jumps to 89 quid after a year. That’s very expensive.

    20
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    Mute Search Eagle
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    Jan 31st 2018, 8:19 PM

    The National Broadband Plan has fallen apart as predicted. Rural users left in the dust with a rotting network. Unacceptable. This Government (and indeed all Irish Governments) are just incapable of delivering infrastructure. Whether it’s cancelling all railway investment in Dublin, killing off motorway plans in Cork, bungling fixing the water network and making a mess of rural broadband, the Government has a track record of total failure in this area.

    Naughten has made a total mess of this and must be deleted from the Government in the next reshuffle.

    28
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    Mute JustOneScoop
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:19 PM

    Enet, wireless is not broadband. They should rename this to national possibly good bandwidth depending on signal and time of day and number of users plan. This is a bloody joke . Naughton this is a joke. This is not broadband this is not acceptable we need to build our own national infrastructure and lease it out ourselves. Eir made a laugh of the government cherry picking easy spots .

    26
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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:30 PM

    looking at the expected timeframes that they keep talking about for rolling our national broadband at this stage they should consider jumping ahead to the wireless alternative of 5G – mobile networks will compete effectively with cable once they build out the network with 5G capacity. China is already investing billions in 5G rollout and the US is following fast , Europe is behind and Ireland is still faffing around a procurement process to decide with who and how the next 10 years of cable should be done. I wouldn’t be surprised if both Vodafone and Eir are looking at the bigger picture and realise a 5G bet is a much smarter play ( as it can be added to the existing cell towers and wont need the expensive ‘last mile’ connection costs or be forced to use a 3rd party ( like Eir for access) The speeds / no latency will be phenomenal on 5G wireless and the only issue now is the time ( will take a few years ) and investment but make no mistake in the medium term wireless is likely to compete very effectively with wired broadband including outside the cities.

    18
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    Mute Liam Burke
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:36 PM

    @Dave Hammond: yip you hit the nail on the head, 5G will give customers “fiber over the air”
    Eir and Vodafone will roll out 5G a lot cheaper and quicker than cabling up rural houses,and make more from it.
    We just need for 5G networks to be ready first

    10
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    Mute Sean Frawley
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    Jan 31st 2018, 10:00 PM

    @Dave Hammond: utter bull. Wireless is still wireless no matter how you frame it. Contention, line of sight, weather issues did I mention contention?

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    Mute JustOneScoop
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    Jan 31st 2018, 11:18 PM

    @Dave Hammond: wireless is not a substitute even 5g speed capable. Speed is not s problem capacity and contention is. Wireless is not a substitute. The reason China and the us are really into 5g is nothing to do with commercial or residential broadband needs it’s for mobile application and connected vehicles . Fibre should be the only real method for commercial or residential needs

    2
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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Feb 1st 2018, 9:20 AM

    @JustOneScoop: every option for the best way forward to develop high access should be examined , needs an open mind and some forward thinking , Ireland is not that big a land surface and the current thinking might not be the only option or solution ,

    why are you so dismissive about alternative potential solutions that get explored in other developing markets ?.

    http://www.telecompetitor.com/will-5g-enable-wireless-replacement-home-broadband-disrupt-ftth/

    1
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    Mute Conor Glancy
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:54 PM

    It’s great to see everyone is able to post comments on this without broadband

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    Mute Frank Dubogovik
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:22 PM

    @Conor Glancy: 4G on smartphone??

    20
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    Mute Terry Cunningham
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    Jan 31st 2018, 8:19 PM

    Well look at the right funnyman!!

    6
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    Mute Tom Phelan
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:22 PM

    Good way of dealing with revenge pornhub all the same, don’t give them Internet access.

    32
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    Mute Link
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:19 PM

    @Tom Phelan: pornhub? Busted by your own predictive text!

    35
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    Mute Me_a_monkey
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    Jan 31st 2018, 11:14 PM

    @Link: you just won the Internet!

    8
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    Mute Celtic Kid
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:11 PM

    I once spoke with a London fireman who told me that what gives him the most confidence when he’s putting his life on the line was knowing his safety gear has come from the lowest bidder! Tendering is not always the answer.

    16
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    Mute Padraic O Sullivan
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:30 PM

    Factcheck – was Liam Lalor the communcations minister when lines were privatised initially?

    11
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    Mute Tricksy
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:38 PM

    @Padraic O Sullivan: Mary o rourke I think ??

    16
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    Mute Grand
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    Jan 31st 2018, 9:05 PM

    70+ years every boreen in the country got electricity thanks to government intervention. Nowadays, even with government AND massive corporate investment, it can’t be done. Why?
    PS I’m not asking ye guys – I’m expecting (more like hoping) for an official respose from Eir.

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    Mute Paul Coughlan
    Favourite Paul Coughlan
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    Jan 31st 2018, 10:06 PM

    I listened to Denis Naughton this evening. Sounded like Richard Bruton. Cringing. Eir recently sent me a letter about charging more for no extra anything. My son fixed new agreement with Vodafone. Cheaper with 20mb broadband – eir couldn’t provide me with any more than 2.5mb. (Plus Extra landline calls to uk free). Roll out was to have started a number of years ago. Who started it. A complete joke and Naughton should resign.

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    Mute Desmodromic
    Favourite Desmodromic
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    Jan 31st 2018, 8:10 PM

    It’s hardly surprising. Apple ran from Athenry because the gov didn’t step up to the challenge , getting any infrastructure built in ireland is now nigh impossible.

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    Mute Irish Cottage Rental
    Favourite Irish Cottage Rental
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:38 PM

    We just don’t do infrastructure. What a farce. Again.

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    Mute Terry Cunningham
    Favourite Terry Cunningham
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    Jan 31st 2018, 8:18 PM

    Alan Kelly made a comment this eve that maybe the state should buy back Eir.
    It would be costly but in the long run it may pay off and the Government will own the infrastructure then.

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    Mute Dave Doyle
    Favourite Dave Doyle
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    Jan 31st 2018, 8:43 PM

    @Terry Cunningham: And provide a public service? That’s never going to happen under FG/FF.

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    Mute Rory Browne
    Favourite Rory Browne
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    Jan 31st 2018, 9:45 PM

    @Terry Cunningham: that is absolutely the right thing to do. BB is a strategic asset or disadvantage. You choose Leo

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    Mute John Bell
    Favourite John Bell
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:08 PM

    Glorified gangsters

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    Mute Martin Ryan
    Favourite Martin Ryan
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:29 PM

    There is another company who are presently installing 72core fibreoptic broadband in different parts of the country.

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    Mute Tommy Roche
    Favourite Tommy Roche
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    Jan 31st 2018, 4:39 PM

    @Martin Ryan: Problem is, these companies are installing in areas already ringed by fibre. It is economically unviable for them to do otherwise. Hence the need for a massively subsidized NBP.

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    Mute Wade Wilson
    Favourite Wade Wilson
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:50 PM

    The companies hooked up rural areas with a high density of homes. The remaining homes are spread out and there is no will to install fibre connections to areas where they won’t make a healthy profit. They took the low hanging fruit in the contract then bailed.

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    Mute thomas patrick
    Favourite thomas patrick
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:08 PM

    Wouldn’t be too upset. Their signal is shyte.. just signed with them… can’t wait to leave

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    Mute Dave Doyle
    Favourite Dave Doyle
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:10 PM

    Internet speed here in Burgas is 150mbps. Cost is 17.50 euro per month (35 leva). I also get TV programes included.

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    Mute Gerry Campbell
    Favourite Gerry Campbell
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:04 PM

    Well thank God , it may actually work now .

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    Mute WoodlandBard
    Favourite WoodlandBard
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:14 PM

    Perhaps a partial tax settlement by Apple, get into rural broadband?

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    Mute James Reilly
    Favourite James Reilly
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    Feb 1st 2018, 1:56 AM

    Dennis o Brien written all over this .. who wants to place a bet on who gets the contract.. corrupt corporate governance

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    Mute Sean taoiseach
    Favourite Sean taoiseach
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    Feb 1st 2018, 7:50 AM

    This is the result of stripping of state assests to commercial private companies profit rules all

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    Mute Jim Jameson
    Favourite Jim Jameson
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    Feb 1st 2018, 8:04 AM

    1 geostationary satellite positioned over Ireland would cost about 100million and give every home in the country the option of a 50Mbps minimum speed- JOB DONE.
    The amount of P*ssa*seing about they’ve done in the the last 10years has probably cost more than that and we have nothing to show for it!

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    Mute Quentin Moriarty
    Favourite Quentin Moriarty
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    Feb 1st 2018, 8:21 AM

    New owners new rules

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    Mute Thomas Sheridan
    Favourite Thomas Sheridan
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    Feb 1st 2018, 12:13 AM

    Actually 30 Mbps would more than do enough for most people. Typical monthly download approx 50 Gbit. Do you really need to download it all in 1 minute.

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    Mute ed w
    Favourite ed w
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    Feb 1st 2018, 7:47 AM

    @Thomas Sheridan: it’s really not the point nbs should have been about future proofing the network so users don’t get left behind the next time fibre is the only way to do that

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    Mute Nigel Griffin
    Favourite Nigel Griffin
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    Feb 1st 2018, 8:45 AM

    bunch of cowboys, with the worst customer relation service ever! I hope when they come looking for contract renewal people tell them where to go

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    Mute Sean taoiseach
    Favourite Sean taoiseach
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    Feb 1st 2018, 5:09 PM

    Rural eir customers like myself should now pull the plug on eir and go to another provider if eir dont give a damn. About rural customers then maybe when all the rural customers change operator thue might remeber where their bread is buttered

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    Mute Elizabeth Thewiz
    Favourite Elizabeth Thewiz
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    Jan 31st 2018, 7:05 PM

    I hour from Dublin and backward

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    Mute John Bell
    Favourite John Bell
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    Jan 31st 2018, 6:11 PM

    Gangsters

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