Eir’s broadband plan poses challenge to Government strategy

Telecoms firm Eir is pushing ahead with a plan to provide high-speed broadband to 300,000 homes

earmarked for the rural broadband scheme.

The move poses a serious challenge to the Government’s intervention strategy as EU state aid rules forbid an intervention if a private operator is already supplying the market.

The Department of Communication plans to award two subsidised contracts for the rollout of broadband to 757,000 homes in rural Ireland later this year.

Eir, however, told The Irish Times it expects to have up to 100,000 of these homes connected to its new fibre network by the end of this year, with a further 200,000 connected over the following three years.

While the plan potentially reduces the size of the State intervention, a rival to Eir warned the removal of these homes from the Government’s tender would make the scheme unworkable as there needed to be a blend of semi-commercial and non-commercial units.

A spokeswoman for the department said: “We have reserved the right to update the [intervention] map during procurement where a commercial plan is deemed to comply with the assessment criteria and the operator signs the required commitment agreement.”

Map

“No additional commercial plans have been submitted since the 2020 map was launched in December 2015, nor has any commitment agreement been signed by any operator,” she said.

Eir says it has extended its planned broadband reach to 1.9 million homes and premises, up from 1.6 million.

“Work has now commenced on the rollout to these additional 300,000,” a spokeswoman said, noting the additional premises were spread across 1,070 communities in 26 counties and include 300 communities not currently served with high-speed broadband.

Minister for Communications Alex White has indicated he may have to change the Government's intervention area on the back of revised business plans prior to the final tender being announced.

The scheme is likely to cost more than €1 billion with the State expected to provide close to half the money, making it the largest rural project undertaken since electrification in the 1950s.