National Broadband Plan may cost €3bn to deliver, 25-year contract reveals

The cost comes despite original estimates of €500m

The 25-year contract, which aims to bring high-speed broadband to every home and business in Ireland, has been published.

The National Broadband Plan may cost as much as €3bn to deliver, despite original estimates of €500,000, although the Government claims that this lower figure was for a more limited plan.

The 25-year contract, which aims to bring high-speed broadband to every home and business in Ireland, has been published.

Large chunks of the contract were redacted due to “commercially sensitive” information, with whole sections such as "Key Personnel" and "Key Subcontractor Provisions"  unavailable. 

Other key sections like "Operational Performance" and "Subsidy Payments" were partially redacted.

However, the 1,500-plus page contract did name its key subcontractors. 

National Broadband Ireland, Eir, Limerick-based company Enet, Denis O’Brien's Actavo, KN Networks, Nokia, and Kelly Communications were named as key subcontractors, with the first three of these companies designated as "critical key subcontractors".

Eir is due to earn over €900m through the deal for the use of its poles and infrastructure.

Telecoms mogul David McCourt, the Irish-American chairman of National Broadband Ireland, was named as a main shareholder and his financial partner, Walter Scott, was named as a significant director. 

The contract will require the National Broadband Ireland consortium to deliver high speed broadband to 540,000 currently unconnected premises across the country over a seven-year period.

Construction of the new fibre network is to start in Cork and Cavan this month and the plan aims to start connecting homes and businesses by the end of this year. 

National Broadband Ireland said in a statement to RTÉ that the contract is "among the most onerous of any contract of its type".

It said that it provides "extensive rights for the State" and "public transparency for this critically important state-aided national infrastructure project."