Eircom to roll out 1Gb/s FTTH to 66 towns

bk

lucernarian wrote: »

It might be easier to match infrastructural records with existing cable records if they follow the same setup from cabinets to different distribution points. Eircom seem to be exactly planning to run long (not that long in the targeted urban areas) fibres to specific distribution points near each other, like a 30-pair cable would do currently.

From the video on Eircom wholesales site, it seems that 24 fiber pairs pass under each FTTC cab. 4 of these fibres terminate at the cab for VDSL. The other 20 seem to pass by the cab and head in various directions towards streets and hosting estates. A passive optical splitter then splits each fibre to 32 fibres to feed the nearby homes. The point being these optical splitters seem to be near the 32 actual premises, rather then at the actual cab.

This makes sense as it means Eircom can radially supply homes up to kilometres away from the cab in all directions.

lucernarian

When you say eircom don't have overground spans in most areas, the same could be said of Telecom Éireann in 1999. Nowhere I have passed regularly in the last 15 years of my life has had any overhead plant put into undeground, for any stretch longer than 50 metres. And the R162 from Shercock towards Cootehill in Co. Cavan still has the same 4 30-pair cables strung up between more closely-spaced poles. https://goo.gl/maps/0xeZ2 There's 5 30-pair cables for some of it. At least some of the poles have been replaced since the time Eircom was taken over by Babcock and Brown.

Telecom Éireann had been moving away from overhead cabling but with eircom, I bet there's actually slightly more roadside poles in use now than ten years ago because of overhead fibre runs between exchanges here and there. I've seen new poles carrying just fibre, at the exchange boundary, along some part of the old N8 in Tipperary for example.

bk

SpaceTime wrote: »

The biggest issue that may come up is broken / blocked ducts where they've collapsed or been infiltrated by roots of trees. Although from what I gather, during the FTTC rollout the ducts were shown to be in surprisingly good shape compared to a lot of other countries, so fingers crossed!

In the cases of blocked/collapsed ducts, I expect Eircom will consider using G.Fast/FTTDp from the closest pole/duct chamber to service those premises.

Also I expect they will use G.Fast within apartment buildings.

lucernarian

SpaceTime wrote: »

Normally they'll avoid running multiple fibres from the same place if the end points aren't all equidistant from it. You'd just end up running a lot more fibres than you actually need.

You can for example run a long fibre from the cabinet to serve a cluster of houses .. There's no particular reason why everything needs to radiate from a single cabinet as the gear's much smaller and easier to deal with than VDSL.

I'm kinda missing the point behind this, was anyone ever proposing that they run individual fibres from houses to cabinets? That would defeat the whole point of GPON. With 20 spare fibres at any given cabinet, I'd be surprised if they supplied any customer with limited links.

Does anybody think eircom would try and connect as many people as possible (i.e. approaching 32 premises) per fibre, and if the cabinet served 120 premises then they would only use e.g 4 or 5 fibres out of 20, or will they just keep a couple of fibres spare and use say 16 fibres, with each fibre being split at just 1:8? It wasn't easy to tell but China Telecom seem to do that in some parts, with individual fibre runs supplying only one optical splitter at 1:8 or 1:16, rather than the CATV model of regular taps as houses are passed.

bk

lucernarian wrote: »

I'm kinda missing the point behind this, was anyone ever proposing that they run individual fibres from houses to cabinets? That would defeat the whole point of GPON. With 20 spare fibres at any given cabinet, I'd be surprised if they supplied any customer with limited links.

Does anybody think eircom would try and connect as many people as possible (i.e. approaching 32 premises) per fibre, and if the cabinet served 120 premises then they would only use e.g 4 or 5 fibres out of 20, or will they just keep a couple of fibres spare and use say 16 fibres, with each fibre being split at just 1:8? It wasn't easy to tell but China Telecom seem to do that in some parts, with individual fibre runs supplying only one optical splitter at 1:8 or 1:16, rather than the CATV model of regular taps as houses are passed.

I expect that the optical splitters will be placed at streets or estates where there are rose felt 32 homes. Of course that doesn't mean all 32 homes sign up to FTTH. Some might stick with ADSL/VDSL, SIRO FTTH or UPC. Also I'm sure there will be cases where an optical splitter will be placed where there are less then 32 premises. I'd imagine an optical splitter being placed in the middle of an 8 premises clusters.

Optical splitters are relatively cheap and simple devices. So they will be used in such a way as to reduce the length of fibre cable run.

The bigger issue might be a street where you have 35 premises, what happens to the last 3 premises if all 32 other houses already sign up to FTTH?

Will Eircom run a second fibre and splitter?

If they do, will they leave 3 on one fibre and 32 on the first or will they try and balance it out across the 2 fibres?

Or will they just use the one fibre for all 35. After all GPON also supports 64 and 128 way splits, obviously with less guaranteed speed.

The reality is we just don't know yet.

ED E

I think you can break out multiple times from the same core with gpon, as in split off 1/3 spectrum at one point and the rest at another, doesn't have to divide into 32 at once.

bk

ED E wrote: »

I think you can break out multiple times from the same core with gpon, as in split off 1/3 spectrum at one point and the rest at another, doesn't have to divide into 32 at once.

Ah, yes, I forgot about that, it makes it a very flexible solution.

SpaceTime

bk wrote: »

In the cases of blocked/collapsed ducts, I expect Eircom will consider using G.Fast/FTTDp from the closest pole/duct chamber to service those premises.

Also I expect they will use G.Fast within apartment buildings.

What kind of real world speeds is g.fast capable of?

With ductless apartment buildings they could easily do what UPC and Sky Television do with coax - retrofit it by clipping it to the external walls and enter through balconies and window ledges.

Just put a splitter on the roof or in the basement and feed from there.

bk

SpaceTime wrote: »

What kind of real world speeds is g.fast capable of?

500Mb/s to 1Gb/s I expect closer to 1Gb/s for most people given the relatively short distance of drops and relatively good quality of copper used.

With ductless apartment buildings they could easily do what UPC and Sky Television do with coax - retrofit it by clipping it to the external walls and enter through balconies and window ledges.

Just put a splitter on the roof or in the basement and feed from there.

It is far from that easy. I fought for 6 years to get UPC into my building. First upc won't run cables externally on apartment buildings and often the management companies and/or residents won't allow it.

Upc kept coming too my building over a few years but each time the quotes they got from the contractors were too high to make it economic to do. In fairness to them they kept trying and eventually they were able to get it in under budget, by running the cable up from the basements through the risers and into each apartment.

It worked in the end, but the point is it was far from simple. It cost them a lot of money to do and took nearly 6 years!

I can't see Eircom doing this for every apartment building in Ireland when they have a cheap drop in solution available to them.

Though in my buildings case, there is a cat5e cable going from the basement "telecoms room" to each apartment. I wonder in such cases will they skip the G.Fast and just use gigabit Ethernet up to each apartment instead?

lucernarian

ED E wrote: »

I think you can break out multiple times from the same core with gpon, as in split off 1/3 spectrum at one point and the rest at another, doesn't have to divide into 32 at once.

It definitely can, a la cable TV taps but with some limits depending on the exact kit use. Verizon FiOS certainly use multiple optical splitters per core in their rollouts.

A simplified example: For an "isolated" cluster of 8 houses. Say, some cul de sac with 1960s bungalows on it in a town which has since grown out and has housing estates scattered around. Are eircom more likely to run one of the 20 cores straight from the cabinet to that laneway's DP and use a 1:8 or 1:16 splitter, or will they also split that core on its way to the laneway and use it for another 8-16 houses somewhere else?

bk wrote:

If they do, will they leave 3 on one fibre and 32 on the first or will they try and balance it out across the 2 fibres?

Or will they just use the one fibre for all 35. After all GPON also supports 64 and 128 way splits, obviously with less guaranteed speed.

The reality is we just don't know yet.

This thread is exactly what all this speculation is about, surely? Maybe someone in the know or with experience of the Belcarra trial or the Wexford FTTH rollout might have a good idea.

My feeling is that they will use unsplit cores to supply an existing DP that might handle ten pairs and put a 1:16 tap beside them, like what I've seen in Asia. And deploy optical splitters for locations like semi-d housing estates where the ducting in the estate mightn't allow for a star topology like overhead drops would do.

Edit:

bk wrote:

I can't see Eircom doing this for every apartment building in Ireland when they have a cheap drop in solution available to them.

Though in my buildings case, there is a cat5e cable going from the basement "telecoms room" to each apartment. I wonder in such cases will they skip the G.Fast and just use gigabit Ethernet up to each apartment instead?

I'd agree. With that cat 5e cable, do you think all the lengths are less than 90 odd metres and unbroken/unkinked etc? I imagine the apartment blocks in question aren't that big! Also, is it possible that for customers who want it, eircom will be allowed to replace copper drop cables with single mode fibre? They could use the existing ducts and cables to pull wires through, probably quite easily! I wonder if it's easy to do this while leaving the phone cable in situ also...

bk

lucernarian wrote: »

I'd agree. With that cat 5e cable, do you think all the lengths are less than 90 odd metres and unbroken/unkinked etc? I imagine the apartment blocks in question aren't that big! Also, is it possible that for customers who want it, eircom will be allowed to replace copper drop cables with single mode fibre? They could use the existing ducts and cables to pull wires through, probably quite easily! I wonder if it's easy to do this while leaving the phone cable in situ also...

Oh there are definitely apartments way more then 90 meters from the telecoms room, a couple hundred meters wouldn't surprise me at all.

There is actually two buildings in the complex, kind of like a T shape with a road separating the upper section from the long length wise section. The comms room is in the upper - section of the T, while the majority of the apartments are in the I section, the apartments at the opposite end of the | are easily more then 100 meters from the comms room.

Having said that there are three patch panels in rooms in the basement along the second building, so here Eircom could relatively easily bypass the comms room and put an optical splitter at each patch panel to reduce the distance, though it would the require more gear and less centralisation.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to pull out the cat5e and replace it with fiber. It would certainly be possible to send the fiber up the risers like UPC did, but then it comes out in the kitchen rather then the study and is a bit messy and awkward. It was costly and time consuming for upc to do.

Which is why I think Eircom wouldn't bother with all that trouble and would instead just stick G.Fast on it or Ethernet.

Btw in my apartment we don't actually have Eircom service! Only stupid Digiweb/Smart Telecom phone and ADSL2+ over those cat5e cables!!! (That is until UPC blessedly arrived). I'm not sure if Digiweb/smart own the cat5e cables or the management company. It would be monumentally stupid if the management company didn't own them. But it also wouldn't surprise me one bit!

lucernarian

bk wrote: »

Oh there are definitely apartments way more then 90 meters from the telecoms room, a couple hundred meters wouldn't surprise me at all.

There is actually two buildings in the complex, kind of like a T shape with a road separating the upper section from the long length wise section. The comms room is in the upper - section of the T, while the majority of the apartments are in the I section, the apartments at the opposite end of the | are easily more then 100 meters from the comms room.

Having said that there are three patch panels in rooms in the basement along the second building, so here Eircom could relatively easily bypass the comms room and put an optical splitter at each patch panel to reduce the distance, though it would the require more gear and less centralisation.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to pull out the cat5e and replace it with fiber. It would certainly be possible to send the fiber up the risers like UPC did, but then it comes out in the kitchen rather then the study and is a bit messy and awkward. It was costly and time consuming for upc to do.

Which is why I think Eircom wouldn't bother with all that trouble and would instead just stick G.Fast on it or Ethernet.

Btw in my apartment we don't actually have Eircom service! Only stupid Digiweb/Smart Telecom phone and ADSL2+ over those cat5e cables!!! (That is until UPC blessedly arrived). I'm not sure if Digiweb/smart own the cat5e cables or the management company. It would be monumentally stupid if the management company didn't own them. But it also wouldn't surprise me one bit!

I thought that, owing to the USO, people were entitled to a phone service provided by eircom on the PSTN? That is honestly the first time I've heard of an apartment complex where eircom aren't in place (and it's not also eircom's fault)

bk

lucernarian wrote: »

I thought that, owing to the USO, people were entitled to a phone service provided by eircom on the PSTN? That is honestly the first time I've heard of an apartment complex where eircom aren't in place (and it's not also eircom's fault)

Yes I've wondered about that too, that is also my assumption.

Or is it a case that if you can get phone service off another company then Eircom didn't have to supply service? I'd love to hear from anyone who might know for certain?

I think it might have been a case that they got away with it as no one challenged them on it. Until recently it didn't matter as Smarts service was as good as Eircom (ADSL2+) and much better value for money. Only with the rollout of VDSL has things changed. But we got UPC in about a year ago, so now that is much better.

I wonder if I challenged the management company on the grounds of the USO would it force them to get Eircom in. However to be honest, UPC is offering such a good service I'm not too bothered to fight again with the management company (it took years to force them to get upc in!)

I think ill just wait until Eircom starts to rollout FTTH in my area before perhaps going down that road.

ED E

Ive wondered this too. Often where coax is in place there's also POTS as previously there was no DOCSIS, but modern apartment blocks can be magnet exclusive. If tenant x says he wants eircom, management company say no new cable runs, then eircom could claim the landowner themselves are rejecting the USO offer. Or the legal costs would be greater than 7k which is the reasonable effort threshold.

Wouldn't be surprised if its never been challenged.

PeadarB

The KNN/MCS lads are flat out in Letterkenny now. Initial core fibre runs to droppoints well underway. I got a quick look at the workplan for my area before he folded it over. Saturation seems to be the order of the day. 8:1 connections, with "redundancy" from DP's both in the existing underground ducting and via the existing aerial drops. I'll need to gen up on my knowledge of all this FTTH crack.

Manc Red

PeadarB wrote: »

The KNN/MCS lads are flat out in Letterkenny now. Initial core fibre runs to droppoints well underway. I got a quick look at the workplan for my area before he folded it over. Saturation seems to be the order of the day. 8:1 connections, with "redundancy" from DP's both in the existing underground ducting and via the existing aerial drops. I'll need to gen up on my knowledge of all this FTTH crack.

Where have you seen them? What areas?

PeadarB

Manc Red wrote: »

Where have you seen them? What areas?

Up as far as the Killyclug/Killylastin Junction. Up the Long Lane. Wolf Tone and Convent Road, Errigal and Sliabh Sneacht Roads. All the housing estates from Binnion Avenue up as far as Upper Ashbrook. They were sussing out the cab feeding Beechwood Road and Avenue, and the back end of upper Ashbrook.

I'd love to have the cheek to ask them to see the work plans but the glance I got of the Ashbrook/Errigal Road/Sliabh Sneacht area shows they are absolutely dotted with drop points.

lucernarian

How does the rollout compare to the urban area of Letterkenny? Does it serve DPs that are connected to rural cabinets? LKY 007 would be a good example. It's out past the golf course on the Ramelton road. Even if it's rural, there's probably a few nearby distribution points to the cabinet, with its 20 fibre cores waiting to be used.

KOR101

Rating Action: Moody's changes outlook on eircom's B3 ratings to positive
Global Credit Research - 29 May 2015
Assigns B3 rating to new tranche of bank facility

Madrid, May 29, 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service has today affirmed the B3 corporate family rating (CFR) of eircom Holdings (Ireland) Limited (eircom), its B3-PD probability of default rating (PDR), the B3 rating on the EUR2.0 billion senior secured credit facility raised by eircom Finco S.à.r.l. and the B3 rating on the EUR350 million senior secured notes due 2020 issued by eircom Finance Limited. The rating outlook for eircom and its rated subsidiaries has been changed to positive from stable. Concurrently, Moody's has also assigned a B3 rating to Term Loan B3 borrowed by eircom Finco S.à.r.l., a new tranche of the existing term loan facility.

"Our decision to change the outlook on eircom's B3 ratings to positive primarily reflects our view that the company's operating performance will improve over the next 12-18 months, mainly driven by price increases, while it will start generating positive free cash flows that will allow it to slowly reduce debt," says Iván Palacios, a Moody's Vice President -- Senior Credit Officer and lead analyst for eircom. "As a result, eircom's metrics are reaching levels that could soon support upward pressure on the rating."

RATINGS RATIONALE

Today's outlook change reflects Moody's expectations that eircom's operating performance is nearing an inflection point, helped by management's solid execution of the business plan, an improving economy and a more rational competitive environment. The trend towards revenue stabilisation was visible in March 2015, when eircom achieved year-on-year revenue growth for the first time in the last six years.

A stronger operating performance will be further supported by price increases implemented in April 2015, which will allow the company to stabilise revenues and improve EBITDA and cash flow generation. Moody's expects that eircom will start generating positive free cash flows over the next 12 months on the back of improved top line and EBITDA trends, the lack of any further significant voluntary leaver costs, and somewhat lower capex going forward.

As a result of this improved performance, eircom's credit ratios are reaching levels that could support upward pressure on the rating over the next 12 to 18 months, such as adjusted debt/EBITDA trending towards 5.5x. While adjusted leverage remains high -- partly owing to the unfavourable evolution of the pension deficit -- the company's deleveraging trajectory is on the right path.

The change in outlook also reflects the benefits for eircom of the recent amend and extend process, such as the extension of its debt maturity profile by almost three years and the increased operational flexibility (more headroom under covenants, lower administrative burden) at no incremental financial cost.

Finally, the change in outlook also reflects eircom's increasing enterprise value, consistent with rising valuations in the European telecom sector. In fact, the company has recently rejected a takeover offer for EUR3.2-EUR3.3 billion that would imply a significant enterprise value in relation to eircom's still high levels of debt.

WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATING UP/DOWN

Upward pressure on the rating would be supported by continued positive pricing environment, which translates into growth in revenues and EBITDA such that adjusted debt/EBITDA trends towards 5.5x on a sustained basis and allows the company to generate positive free cash flows. Upward rating pressure would also require the group to maintain a sound liquidity profile, with comfortable headroom under financial covenants.

Downward pressure on the rating could materialise if the group fails to execute its business plan or if pricing dynamics deteriorate, leading to weaker-than-expected credit metrics, including adjusted debt/EBITDA trending sustainably above 6.5x, and persistently negative free cash flow generation. Given the size and volatility of eircom's pension deficit, the B3 rating with a positive outlook incorporates the potential for moderate deviations from these ranges on a temporary basis.

Moody's would also be concerned if eircom's liquidity came under stress as a result of a weaker-than-expected operating performance or larger cash outflows for capex in the absence of alternative external sources, such as a revolving credit facility or vendor financing.

https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-changes-outlook-on-eircoms-B3-ratings-to-positive--PR_326461?WT.mc_id=AM~RmluYW56ZW4ubmV0X1JTQl9SYXRpbmdzX05ld3NfTm9fVHJhbnNsYXRpb25z~20150529_PR_326461

But, bond yields only down to 7.1%, from 7.34% in December. So, still very much on the edge.

http://www.boerse-frankfurt.de/en/bonds/eircom+fin+13+20+regs+XS0927671080

PeadarB

lucernarian wrote: »

How does the rollout compare to the urban area of Letterkenny? Does it serve DPs that are connected to rural cabinets? LKY 007 would be a good example. It's out past the golf course on the Ramelton road. Even if it's rural, there's probably a few nearby distribution points to the cabinet, with its 20 fibre cores waiting to be used.

Lucernian I have no doubt that LKY1_007, which appears to be the furthest from the exchange at 4.7km as the crow flies, will be done. It should have the core fibre in place already, as suggested by yourself. LKY1_038 at Killyclug is 3km from the exchange as the crow flies. LKY1_027, just over from it is already serving the surrounding housing estates with duct fed FTTH already in place, as reported on their video.
The housing density at Roughpark and Ballymaleel should lent itself quite well for FTTH, in my opinion. A quick check of existing eircom manholes and pole drops, if any, should indicate civils already in situ that will be utilised for FTTH. The FTTH runs around me in Ballyboe/Glencar all seem to originate at the respective cabs, though I stand to be corrected on this. One of the MCS lads said that each DP will serve no more than 8 premises where feasible.
Bearing in mind that the initial FTTC rollout took no more than 12 -15 months throughout Letterkenny exchange area, from inception, I have no doubt that the FTTH rollout will be both extensive and rapid but initally demand led. MCS, a Northern company, with some KNN input are doing the core fibre runs through existing ducts. At the pace they are going up our way, it wont take too long to cover the whole exchange area. The final "blowing" to premises will be a different story I suspect, but given the experience of the staff involved it will be no problem for eircom.

lucernarian

PeadarB wrote: »

Lucernian I have no doubt that LKY1_007, which appears to be the furthest from the exchange at 4.7km as the crow flies, will be done. It should have the core fibre in place already, as suggested by yourself. LKY1_038 at Killyclug is 3km from the exchange as the crow flies. LKY1_027, just over from it is already serving the surrounding housing estates with duct fed FTTH already in place, as reported on their video.
The housing density at Roughpark and Ballymaleel should lent itself quite well for FTTH, in my opinion. A quick check of existing eircom manholes and pole drops, if any, should indicate civils already in situ that will be utilised for FTTH. The FTTH runs around me in Ballyboe/Glencar all seem to originate at the respective cabs, though I stand to be corrected on this. One of the MCS lads said that each DP will serve no more than 8 premises where feasible.
Bearing in mind that the initial FTTC rollout took no more than 12 -15 months throughout Letterkenny exchange area, from inception, I have no doubt that the FTTH rollout will be both extensive and rapid but initally demand led. MCS, a Northern company, with some KNN input are doing the core fibre runs through existing ducts. At the pace they are going up our way, it wont take too long to cover the whole exchange area. The final "blowing" to premises will be a different story I suspect, but given the experience of the staff involved it will be no problem for eircom.

Are they doing *every* DP served by that cabinet?! How far from the cabinet are they going to go in Letterkenny? Like what about this DP? It's a good couple of km from the nearest possible cabinet in Ballymacool. https://goo.gl/maps/AhJJi

Anyway thanks for the very useful info! Especially the part about the 1:8 core split. That is fantastic news for initial service provision but I suspect with that kind of rollout that some runs will need to be split in two otherwise the max potential number of customers served from a cabinet would be 160.

rob808

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/news/over-300000-rural-homes-to-benefit-from-fibre-broadband-31277270.html

PeadarB

rob808 wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/news/over-300000-rural-homes-to-benefit-from-fibre-broadband-31277270.html

And this is FTTH. Looks like a 5 year plan but eircom have developed the knack of rolling these plane out well within their initial timeframes. Hope the NBP people are taking serious note of this committment by eircom.

PeadarB

lucernarian wrote: »

Are they doing *every* DP served by that cabinet?! How far from the cabinet are they going to go in Letterkenny? Like what about this DP? It's a good couple of km from the nearest possible cabinet in Ballymacool. https://goo.gl/maps/AhJJi

Anyway thanks for the very useful info! Especially the part about the 1:8 core split. That is fantastic news for initial service provision but I suspect with that kind of rollout that some runs will need to be split in two otherwise the max potential number of customers served from a cabinet would be 160.

Churchill is on the new FTTH plan.

KOR101

PeadarB wrote: »

And this is FTTH. Looks like a 5 year plan but eircom have developed the knack of rolling these plane out well within their initial timeframes. Hope the NBP people are taking serious note of this committment by eircom.

Better to take that business now, rather than risk losing it to SIRO.

Have they said at any point how far they are prepared to run the fibre (FTTH, not FTTC) from the exchange or cabinet. I'm 6km from Blackwater Bridge, so I guess thats out.

lucernarian

It's a rather disappointing announcement for Louth. Just one exchange area announced. I really hope the Drogheda rollout will take advantage of some of the ducting that extends out to rural areas around the town at least!

PeadarB wrote:

Churchill is on the new FTTH plan.

That DP appears to be in the Letterkenny area, going by the eircom wholesale map. I've double-checked. I guess my question is whether they'll roll out FTTH to DPs supplied by overhead 30-pair cables over 2km from a cabinet, like that one I linked?

chris_ie

Argh, I'm stuck in the middle of these areas :P FTTH 5km either side of me Although hopefully it will be a good thing whenever the NBP gets underway...

PeadarB

lucernarian wrote: »

That DP appears to be in the Letterkenny area, going by the eircom wholesale map. I've double-checked. I guess my question is whether they'll roll out FTTH to DPs supplied by overhead 30-pair cables over 2km from a cabinet, like that one I linked?

That DP is at at Dooen, Newmills on the Churchill Road. LKY1_022 at Ballymacool is the nearest cab at 4.3km as the crow flies. The ares is covered in one off ribbon developments as far as Churchill. Eircom have a relatively new pole infrastructure all the way out there and to my mind should come within the FTTH footprint.
The Belcarra rollout in Mayo encompasses ribbon development and this new announcement would seem to indicate their readiness to serve areas dotted with ribbon development. One of the eircom engineers I spoke with recently said that the eircom staff were concentrating on outlying areas around Letterkenny and provisioning for additional fibre connectivity in the more rural areas. He didn't eleborate unfortunately. KNN are in and out of the exchange building in the town like fiddlers elbows, while MCS are running out the fibre for FTTH in the town (at least up our end of town). To be honest speculation is rife, but when they announce plans like this, we can use evidence from their own videos etc., to make "educated" calls on methodology and rollout practice. As I've said in previous posts I'm no expert but I'm enjoying the educational experience given by yourself and other more enlightened posters here.:)

MajesticDonkey

rob808 wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/news/over-300000-rural-homes-to-benefit-from-fibre-broadband-31277270.html

That's unbelievable to be honest. It's hard to see eircom not winning the NBP, now that it'll probably cost the state only half to two thirds of what it would before this announcement.

Exciting stuff

chris_ie

I'm between Letterkenny and Churchill, is there any chance the housing/ribbon developments in between would get covered by this at all?