‘No significant cost’ to broadband plan extension

The decision by the Government to extend the National Broadband Plan to an additional 170,000 premises will not significantly increase the cost of the scheme, the department responsible has claimed.

The Department of Communications said it had taken the decision to extend the scheme after intensive consultation with commercial companies since January which raised “significant concerns” over the ability of commercial operators to deliver service commitments on time.

Those concerns forced the department to add 170,000 premises to the 757,000 its plan already covered in order to “take account of commercial telecoms’ investment which has not materialised and for which the department does not have any concrete alternative investment plans from the sector”.