National broadband plan 'will take 10 years'
The long-mooted national broadband plan (NBP) will take up to 10 years to roll out even if started today, a broadband expert has claimed.
Chief executive of Cork-headquartered Nova Broadband and Nova Telecom, Dave Mc Donald said the complications of providing coverage to hard-to-reach homes and businesses around the country meant there was no "silver bullet" to solve the issue, which mostly affects rural dwellers.
Barriers to blanket coverage were prevalent, Mr Mc Donald said.
"Why the patchwork quilt, rather than blanket coverage? Why not one network to rule them all? The problem is, each broadband technology has distance limitations.
"Fibre is expensive and slow to roll out. Wireless/4G/5G has limited range and needs tons of masts.
So we end up with a patchwork quilt, one with lots and lots of holes in it. Barriers exist to blanket coverage, but this is no consolation to those who need it.
"Our politicians have been telling us that a blanket national network is on the way “in the next two years” for seven years," he said.
Such a claim was simply not physically possible, according to Mr Mc Donald.
"If fibre is to be rolled out to hundreds of thousands of dispersed buildings in Ireland, as promised by our Government, will it be done in two years from kick-off? No. This is going to take eight to 10 years," he said.
The NBP has been beset by problems since it was first mooted in 2012.
Eir followed Siro, a joint venture between Vodafone and the ESB, in dropping out.
Private investment fund Granahan McCourt is now leading the sole consortium bidding for the plan, which has faced numerous delays and political fallout.
The plan aims to bring high-speed broadband to more than 500,000 houses and businesses in the Republic, but a range of commercial operators have since signalled their intent to plough ahead with their own plans to reach thousands of homes in rural areas.
Mr Mc Donald said the NBP was contingent on being able to use Eir’s poles for the infrastructure.
"Even if a deal is made where Eir generously gives preferential pricing for this, the NBP company will face bureaucracy and strict licencing conditions to access this infrastructure.
"In some cases, new poling, road closure licences, trenching, road opening licences and so on will be required. If ESB infrastructure is utilised, ESB make-safe works will be slow.
"These factors will inevitably cause delay at some point in the process," he said.
Mr Mc Donald was speaking as the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce Review 2018 was published.
Chief executive of IE Domain Registry, David Curtin said the outline of the 2019 programme of work, which includes the deployment of free public wifi in towns and villages across the country, in the plan was to be welcomed.
"However, the Government’s progress in making a decision on awarding the contract for the NBP remains important.
While we wait for private companies to move ahead with their own plans to roll out high-speed broadband, thousands of businesses and individuals in regional Ireland remain without access to an essential, 21st-century service.
“The Government should focus on creating ‘digital town’ hubs, prioritising the connection of regional towns with high potential for e-commerce growth and entrepreneurship," he said.
