Broadband and infrastructure

Sir, – The independent evaluation report of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) released on November 4th by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, as prepared by Ernst & Young (EY), focuses on the necessary dimension of state aid that was invoked to initiate National Broadband Ireland in order to install high-speed broadband in rural areas, which otherwise would have been (on a general scale) commercially unviable. A similar focus on state intervention, however, would be warranted for urban areas affected by a technical impediment to high-speed broadband installation known as “direct-buried leads” (without a sufficient ducting allocation pathway space in a given area needed for fibre cables) where installation of full-fibre broadband in such a scenario is generally associated with a prohibitive cost. It would be speculated that up to 10 to 15 per cent of urban households nationwide could be impacted by this issue.

The Government, as the report referred to, has pledged to ensure a gigabit-speed broadband connection is overseen for every household by 2028 and my evaluation is that state aid also for the urban households affected by the direct-buried leads problem may be essential for this objective to be realised.

In my own electoral ward, parts of Cabinteely, Cornelscourt and Foxrock would be, for example, considerably impacted by this issue and the next government set to assume office after the upcoming general election should include an objective for such urgent state aid assistance (once deemed to be compatible with EU state aid regulations) as a digital connectivity policy priority in the next programme for government, in line with a stated emphasis on infrastructure investment. – Yours, etc,

Cllr JOHN KENNEDY,