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THE FINAL TENDER for the National Broadband Plan (NBP) has been submitted to the Department of Communications meaning that the rollout of high-speed internet across the country moves a step closer to completion.
National Broadband Ireland, the name associated with the Granahan McCourt led consortium, submitted its final tender for the project which aims to give 750,000 premises nationwide a minimum download speed of 30 megabits per second (Mbps).
This also covers Irish businesses that currently have no access to broadband from commercial operators.
The consortium, which comprises electronic groups such as enet, Nokia, Actavo, the Kelly Group and KN Group, said it hopes that it can install, in some places, internet speeds as high as 1,000 Mbps.
enet, which manages the State-owned Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), will be one of the main firms behind the installation. In addition, Nokia, has been nominated as one of the key technology partners.
National Broadband Ireland will have long term access to open Eir’s 1.2 million rural pole infrastructure despite the firm pulling out of the consortium at the start of the year.
Eir, having proceeded with its own rural broadband rollout which took 300,000 premises off the list for the NBP, was thought to have been the most likely winner of the tender before it removed itself from the process.
Earlier this year, the Government found itself backing the bidding process as it emerged that a number of high-profile firms had pulled out of the seemingly-lucrative process.
In the wake of SSE pulling out of the bid at the end of July this year, a spokesman for the Department of Communications told TheJournal.ie: “The NBP remains on track, with a final bid expected from the e-net consortium in the coming weeks. It is intended the procurement process will reach a conclusion shortly thereafter.
“The e-net consortium has reaffirmed its commitment to the National Broadband Plan and timelines around the procurement process. A formal notification from the consortium with regard to structural changes is awaited.
“The Government has allocated an initial €275 million in the Capital Plan (Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021), published on 29 September 2015, for the initial years of the network build-out.”
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And the government is talking of heaping more taxes etc on people later in the year. They should cop on & realise you cant tax your way out of a recession. Consumers will spend less and less as the cuts go deeper.
Don’t worry people, your money and future are going to bailout out private businesses, that were mismanaged, often criminally so, and who in any normal country would have had their bondholders burnt. The irony of the a left wing party, the Shinners pointing out what is a correct thing for capitalism to do, and be backed in that by the world’s leading economists against the so called economic realists of FG and FF, whose actions are considered crazed by most of the world’s leading investors and economists. The thing is that those economists are looking at FG and FF from their own experiences, they are not aware that FG and FF will and have repeatedly driven this economy in to the mud to protect and enrich a very small no. of people that are their friends and donors. Half the population have had to lave since the foundation of the state, brought to edge of bankruptcy 4 times in 50 years, both parties are unique in the western world, having both quadrupled state debt.
Heard on the radio that we consumers are unwilling to part with our cash – cash? What cash???
and
“Michael Noonan recently urged the Irish public to get and spend” – spend what?!
It just shows how out of touch these politicians are,I barely have enough money to be able to cover my mortgage and buy groceries for the month .. ,,it really is getting to the stage where I would be better off claiming welfare..taxing the hell out of us isnt the way forward.
This grand for him is say get out and spend and on the other side Richard Bruton is planning on cutting pay to the low paid workers.
Again this government and previous one alike fail to understand that it is the low & middle income earners that spend their money in the local economy but for some reason they continue to impose higher taxes etc. onto them.
Speaking of consumer sentiment, I didn’t see The Journal cover the EU story yesterday from a Euro stat report showing that Irish people paid more for pretty much everything from alcohol, tobacco and groceries to hotels than most other EU countries. Might have something to do with consumer sentiment?
What’s new?
There is no direction out there . Until we see stability in EU we will be afraid to spend.
I spent €60 in B&Q yesterday so your welcome Mr Noonan…
I have a plan. The government should appoint one ridiculously upbeat, one nagging, and one burly Confidence Fairy! on every street.
The upbeat one will come to your door first. She will tell you how great you are, and how everything is going to turn out just fine, remind you we have close friends like Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth rooting for us, and try to convince you to start living the high life again.
The nagging one will be next. She will tell you that you have seriously failed as a father by not going to the pub, not changing the car, not having a family holiday (in Mayo), and because you insist on your wife buying own-brand stuff in Tesco.
If these don’t get you spending again then the burly Confidence Fairy! will come to your door smelling of strong liquor. He will grab you by the scruff of the neck and drag you to the nearest ATM. He will kick you in the posterior repeatedly until you have withdrawn €1,000. He will then drag you to the pub and shout THE DRINKS ARE ON…you.
He will then drag you to every Celtic Fiasco business in your local area and kick you until you have spent all your hard earned money on vouchers for coffee shops, spas, hairdressers, dental hygienists, aromatherapy and reflexology, and on deposits for soffits, wall insulation and cobble-lock paving.
Sounds far-fetched?
Remember that pension thingy you were saving for old age?
The gov must think the people of ireland are like ATMs just put in there hands and take out what ever they want
You kind of need money to spend it in the first place, maybe that’s why people are not spending??? Just a thought!
YO NOONAYS ,SPEND SPEND SPEND EHY!!!!!!you must honestly think were gobshits DOES ANYBODY KNOW THE GREEK FOR OUR DAY IS COMMING
have your say