National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

mobil 222

Overhead Cabling Crews
Sparktel
Sligo
€550 - €750 a week - Full-time, Permanent
We are seeking Stringing/Overhead Cabling Crews*, to work on the fixed-line telecoms network. This is essential, permanent and long-term work and is unaffected by current COVID-19 restrictions.

You will be working to build and maintain Ireland’s Fibre Infrastructure, specifically for the National Broadband Plan NBP. We are looking for people with various levels of experience along with ‘ready-to-go’ crews.

The Job.

As a Stringing Crew member, you will work in a 3-man crew and report to the field/site manager. You will be responsible for working on the fixed-line telecoms networks carrying out the following:

Building/maintaining Ireland’s Overhead Fibre network, specifically for the National Broadband Plan (NBP).
Pulling cables from pole to pole and ensuring correct connections.
Using a MEWP.
Ensure all work is planned correctly in line with the companies Health & Safety standards.
Carry out traffic management at each site.
Follow design schematics on a hand-held device.
Maintain records and daily work logs via photographs and updating network maps.
Checking and testing all completed works.
Provide a high standard of Health & Safety for fellow workers, the public, and site visitors.
Other duties are required by your supervisor.
The Offer.

Permanent, full-time contract with guaranteed 5 or 6 days’ work per week.
A high-density of work.
All work provided to you on your iPad and full field support.
Average weekly pay €700 - €900+ (with performance bonus).
Stand-down weekly rate of €550.
Equipment, tools and PPE provided.
Vehicle provided for work purposes per crew.
Phone and iPad provided per team.
What do you need?

Previous experience working in cabling for an OH Network.
Experience using hand-held devices such as an iPad/smartphone.
Experience working at heights.
All crew members must have Safe Pass, Manual Handling and Full Drivers Licence.
Each crew should have the following:

BE category driving licence.
3-day SLG
3-Day First Aid
Working at Heights accreditation
MEWP ticket
*Apply as a Crew or Individual and Sparktel can create a crew for you.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: €550.00-€750.00 per week

Experience:

Telecoms: 1 year (Preferred)
Licence:

Safe Pass (Preferred)
Driving Licence (Preferred)
Work remotely:

No
Today

mobil 222

Experienced Subducting Crews
Sparktel
Sligo
€550 - €750 a week - Full-time, Permanent
Sparktel, are looking to hire Experienced Sub-ducting Crews* to work on the fixed-line telecoms network. This is essential, permanent and long-term work and is unaffected by current COVID-19 restrictions.

You will be working to build and maintain Ireland’s Fibre Infrastructure, specifically for the National Broadband Plan NBP. We are looking for people with various levels of experience along with ‘ready-to-go’ crews.

The Job.

As a Sub-ducting Crew member, you will work in a 3-man crew and report to the site/field manager. You will be responsible for working on the fixed-line network carrying out the following duties:

Installing sub-ducting/cable in various locations.
Rodding & roping of ducts to ensure they are clear.
Testing and certifying sub-ducts are clear for fibre blowing teams.
Locating, identifying, and clearing blockages.
Marking out large blockages for civils crews.
Ensure all work is planned correctly in line with the companies Health & Safety standards.
Carry out traffic management at each site.
Follow design schematics on a hand-held device.
Maintain records and daily work logs via photographs and updating network maps.
Provide a high standard of Health & Safety for fellow workers, the public, and site visitors.
Other duties as required by supervisor.
The Offer.

Permanent, full-time contract with guaranteed 5 or 6 days’ work per week.
A high-density of work.
All work provided to you on your iPad and full field support.
Average weekly pay of €700 - €900+(with performance bonus).
Stand-down, weekly rate of €600.
Equipment, tools and PPE provided.
Vehicle provided for work purposes per crew.
Phone and iPad provided per team.
What do you need?

Experience working in utilities or telecoms, an advantage.
Experience using hand-held devices such as an iPad/smartphone.
All crew members must have Safe Pass, Manual Handling and Full Drivers Licence.
Each Crew should have the following:

A BE Licence
3-day SLG
3-day First Aid
*Apply as a Crew or Individual and Sparktel can make a team for you.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: €550.00-€750.00 per week

Experience:

Telecoms: 1 year (Preferred)
Licence:

Safe Pass (Preferred)
Driving Licence (Preferred)
Today

NBAiii

KOR101 wrote: »

You would have to wonder about the demand for that product. Why so soon..........anyone?

I had to check the contract but SoR means a Statement of Request which refers to:

means any request received by NBPco from a Service Provider for a new Wholesale Product or for a change to an existing Wholesale Product in accordance with the SOR Process (and includes, as the context so admits or requires, any one, more or all of them).

So it seems some provider has requested a >1Gb/s product. Whether this is a provider that is aimed at the home market is another matter. I'm not sure many home providers will be rushing to supply new routers to facilitate these speeds.

As for the transmission product, it:

means a data communication link provided between a Service Provider’s PoP and NBPco’s PoH, which link shall be symmetrical, point-to-point, based on Ethernet technology and with a guaranteed Committed Information Rate (CIR)...

The Cush

NBAiii wrote: »

I had to check the contract but SoR means a Statement of Request which refers to:

NBI Statement of Requirements - https://nbi.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NBI-Statement-of-Requirements-and-Product-Development-Process-v1.4.pdf

NBAiii wrote: »

So it seems some provider has requested a >1Gb/s product. Whether this is a provider that is aimed at the home market is another matter. I'm not sure many home providers will be rushing to supply new routers to facilitate these speeds.

So I assume this will be added to NBI's suite of wholesale bitstream and VUA products available to all retail service providers?

From the roadmap

Access products

• Q3 2021 sees the planned introduction of >1Gbit/s services for all consumer and business Bitstream and VUA products
• Planned increase in speeds for all consumer and business Bitstream and VUA products to include new and existing connections where appropriate

The Cush

NBAiii wrote: »

As for the transmission product, it:

means a data communication link provided between a Service Provider’s PoP and NBPco’s PoH, which link shall be symmetrical, point-to-point, based on Ethernet technology and with a guaranteed Committed Information Rate (CIR) as more particularly described in Paragraphs 4.2.59 (Wholesale Product Specifications) to 4.2.65 (Wholesale Product Specifications) (inclusive) of Schedule 2.2 (Reference Offer Requirements).

Active Backhaul Wholesale Products – Transmission Product requirements

4.2.59 NBPco shall provide Transmission Products between the Service Provider’s agreed PoP and NBPco’s PoH.

4.2.60 Subject to the provisions of Paragraph 3.6 (Product Requirements, Evolution and Roadmap) and Figure 2.1 (Specifications for the Anchor Retail Product) of Schedule 2.1 (Technical Solution Specification), NBPco shall not restrict the services that the Service Provider can offer using the Transmission Products or the part (or parts) of the Network where the Wholesale Product can be used.

4.2.61 NBPco shall install its cable and terminating equipment at the Service Provider’s PoP physical location agreed by the Parties.

4.2.62 NBPco shall offer Transmission Products which are symmetrical, point-to-point, based on Ethernet technology and with a guaranteed Committed Information Rate (CIR).

4.2.63 NBPco shall provide Transmission Products with various capacities with an incremental range of capacity. Without limiting Paragraphs 4.2.65 and

4.2.66 (Wholesale Product Specifications), by way of example, NBPco may provide Transmission Products with a range of capacities as follows: 30 Mbit/s, 50 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s, 300 Mbit/s, 500 Mbit/s, 1 Gbit/s) in order to meet this requirement.

4.2.64 Not used

4.2.65 NBPco shall ensure that, throughout the Contract Period, the maximum aggregate utilisation shall be less than 80% of the capacity of the link between the Service Provider’s agreed PoP and NBPco’s PoH.

From the roadmap

Transmission

• Planned introduction of 1Gbit/s, 10Gbit/s and 100Gbit/s P2P Transmission products in Q3 2021

So as I understand it the service provider can request a wireless backhaul link from any of NBI's regional or national PoHs to the service provider's PoP instead of a direct cable connection to NBI's PoH interconnect. And I assume there's an associated wholesale charge.

NBAiii

The Cush wrote: »

NBI Statement of Requirements - https://nbi.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NBI-Statement-of-Requirements-and-Product-Development-Process-v1.4.pdf



So I assume this will be added to NBI's suite of wholesale bitstream and VUA products available to all retail service providers?

From the roadmap

I assume it will be added to the suite, however my doubt would be whether most of the retail ISPs would have an interest in selling it. Take eir for example. It would require them to source a new, likely expensive, router to facilitate what is probably going to be a relatively niche product. This coming after only relatively recently upgrading their router.

Perhaps I'm wrong but that would be my take on it.

The Cush

In Home Services

• Q3 2021 sees the planned introduction enhanced In Home services including RSP modem installation, IPTV installation and other ancillary services
• Additional services may include premium end user site visit services in addition to wireless improvement capabilities

Lots of titbits there but lacking detail.

RSP modem installation = ONT ?
wireless improvement capabilities = mesh/homeplugs etc.?

listermint

KOR101 wrote: »

You would have to wonder about the demand for that product. Why so soon..........anyone?

Offering such products can in itself help innovative ideas. Sprouting businesses where they may not have previously existed as it wasn't possible.

Consider it like throwing seeds out and watering them

The Cush

Broadband plan network could in time carry 25Gbps speed - https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0212/1196858-broadband-plan-network-could-in-time-carry-25gbps-speed/

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) network could in time be capable of handling data speeds of up to 25Gbps, a senior telecoms executive has said.

Phil Siveter, who is the CEO of Nokia in the UK and Ireland, said the network will initially be offering 1Gbps speeds with the potential to expand to 10Gbps.

But he added that in time, that could increase even further as technology comes on stream.

"From a technology point of view actually we are in this space talking about 25Gbps," he told RTE News.

Nokia launches world’s first 25 Gbps symmetrical PON solution - https://www.nokia.com/about-us/news/releases/2020/11/19/nokia-launches-worlds-first-25-gbps-symmetrical-pon-solution/

5G fibre network backhaul

Mr Siveter said the NBP network, when completed, will be "game-changing in nature" and will provide a fundamental footprint for connectivity but also for enhanced services for the public sector and industry, as well as potentially providing a backbone for 5G mobile services.

He said 5G will require the connectivity to be backed up by a fibre network backhaul.

Agent Avenger

47akak wrote: »

All bar one of the deployment areas currently in build phase or in survey phase listed on the nbi.ie site are PoH locations as far as I can see.

Has it ever been confirmed they will build all PoH locations first? Is that the initial order? The website appears to indicate that's what's happening more or less. The exception is Middleton but it could make sense due to the unusually large number of premises to be connected to that OLT and the fact Carrigaline adjacent will be finished early this year.

My townland is listed under an OLT not listed as being built or surveyed on the nbi.ie but it is a PoH location. I've also seen them doing some work recently (just cutting trees I think, sign just said work being carried out on behalf of NBI). So I'm hoping & putting 2+2 together it will be 2022. But there's no date for any premises on their Eircode checker. If I knew for certain I would forego an investment in Starlink.

Hopefully I'm right, I feel sorry for the people who are 7 or 8 years away, they're probably expecting it a lot sooner and their kids or lives might have moved on by then. Nobody is going to admit it will be nearly 2030. Starlink will be an option but the cost won't be for everyone.

Several hundred, maybe even closer to a thousand of the premises in Carrigaline won’t be connected until between Dec 21-May 22, they pushed them back in November even though the rollout plan and new map in the previous few pages lists them as currently in the build phase. I’ve been trying to get an answer from NBI as to why the’ve done this and if they’ve been added to the Midleton rollout which is already a huge area to rollout to but is also down as Dec 21-May 22 however trying to get a straight answer out of them is like trying to draw blood from a stone!

bk

BarryM wrote: »

Coincidently, a young lady, on PK about the latest leaving cert fiasco, said she lived 'in town' and the wifi was ok, but she had friends who lived just outside the town (Roscommon) who could not keep up with the online from the school because the reception was useless.

Might be best if they sign up to the Starlink Beta. Reviews are showing very good performance on it. Obviously not competing with FTTH, but would be a vast improvement for many in rural Ireland until the NBI arrives in their area.

KOR101

The Cush wrote: »

WFH and WFH beyond Covid, rural business broadband etc. comes to mind.
We see people moving from urban to rural areas and I assume they will want to continue to work from there beyond Covid.

As the network is XGS-PON from the start, all the way to the router, it costs nothing to add it to the suite of products available, there when required by an end user.

Maybe an upload speeds need is already there.

Anyway, I think as businesses respond to so many homes having fiber connections, and upgrade server speeds, the home need is going to change dramatically and quickly.

BarryM

Creeping back to my post on the Covid related progress for schoolkids, through the forest of acronyms......

I'd say we could argue the state aid bits as needed variation due to 'unprecedented'... this is a political need.

A strictly time limited 'lend a hand' would suffice to get over some of the humps, and maybe lead to later phases where there were real competitive offers.

If NBP takes as long as is scheduled, then either some newer technologies will have filled the gaps creating a disjointed network environment, or the existing players will have filled all the leafy suburbs with fancy kit allowing all sorts of services, leaving the less fortunate, who happen to be on the (supplier created) margins to wait and wait.

daraghwal

BarryM wrote: »

Creeping back to my post on the Covid related progress for schoolkids, through the forest of acronyms......

I'd say we could argue the state aid bits as needed variation due to 'unprecedented'... this is a political need.

A strictly time limited 'lend a hand' would suffice to get over some of the humps, and maybe lead to later phases where there were real competitive offers.

If NBP takes as long as is scheduled, then either some newer technologies will have filled the gaps creating a disjointed network environment, or the existing players will have filled all the leafy suburbs with fancy kit allowing all sorts of services, leaving the less fortunate, who happen to be on the (supplier created) margins to wait and wait.

With or without state aid it's just an unfortunate fact of life here that it takes longer to put pen to paper on these things than it does to get the job done. (The NBP was actually supposed to be fully completed by end 2020).

Newer technologies won't be filling in NBP gaps. The same or lower spec fibre products will and are currently being installed by the commercial operators in the leafy suburbs because it's commercially viable, quick and easy for them to do and for the most part they're not part of the NBP. Some of these suburbs are being left behind just as bad as people in the countryside are at the moment and if commercial operators didn't do what they're doing the disjointed network environment would be everyone in the countryside with state of the art fibre connections and those in the city stuck with 30 Mbps or less in many cases.

NBI's network will eventually be capable of speeds of 25GB/s and there's slim to no chance of newer, better technology being implemented in the meantime.

rounders

daraghwal wrote: »

With or without state aid it's just an unfortunate fact of life here that it takes longer to put pen to paper on these things than it does to get the job done. (The NBP was actually supposed to be fully completed by end 2020).

Newer technologies won't be filling in NBP gaps. The same or lower spec fibre products will and are currently being installed by the commercial operators in the leafy suburbs because it's commercially viable, quick and easy for them to do and for the most part they're not part of the NBP. Some of these suburbs are being left behind just as bad as people in the countryside are at the moment and if commercial operators didn't do what they're doing the disjointed network environment would be everyone in the countryside with state of the art fibre connections and those in the city stuck with 30 Mbps or less in many cases.

NBI's network will eventually be capable of speeds of 25GB/s and there's slim to no chance of newer, better technology being implemented in the meantime.

Genuine question, is there a big difference between the quality of network (just network, not service) between Eir FTTH and NBI?

daraghwal

The Cush wrote: »

https://medium.com/@ivyhtfuture/what-are-the-differences-between-gpon-xg-pon-and-xgs-pon-eddbd6576b7d

2.5 Gbps vs. 10 Gbps down per fibre
1.5 Gpbs vs. 10 Gbps up per fibre

rounders wrote: »

Genuine question, is there a big difference between the quality of network (just network, not service) between Eir FTTH and NBI?

It depends on what you mean by quality. If your wondering what the difference is, it’s that they use different standards. I’ve quoted The Cush’s comparison here. NBI use a newer technology called XGS-PON whereas eir rural FTTH uses an older standard called GPON. It doesn’t mean it’s any better quality, just that NBI’s network is as futureproofed as it can be. There’s nothing stopping eir upgrading their network in the future, but 99.9% of people don’t need better than what eir are currently able to offer. This isn’t anything to do with quality, just the maximum speed that the network and current equipment is capable of.

ECO_Mental

daraghwal wrote: »

It depends on what you mean by quality. If your wondering what the difference is, it’s that they use different standards. I’ve quoted The Cush’s comparison here. NBI use a newer technology called XGS-PON whereas eir rural FTTH uses an older standard called GPON. It doesn’t mean it’s any better quality, just that NBI’s network is as futureproofed as it can be. There’s nothing stopping eir upgrading their network in the future, but 99.9% of people don’t need better than what eir are currently able to offer. This isn’t anything to do with quality, just the maximum speed that the network and current equipment is capable of.

I think also for eir to move to XGS-PON is just a case of handing out a new ONT to customers and putting new equipment in their hubs and its a simple enough procedure (apart from the cost) if they want to do that in the future. They wont have to replace any of the fibre

oscarBravo

ECO_Mental wrote: »

I think also for eir to move to XGS-PON is just a case of handing out a new ONT to customers and putting new equipment in their hubs and its a simple enough procedure (apart from the cost) if they want to do that in the future. They wont have to replace any of the fibre

...and that's what we mean when we talk about fibre being future-proof.

Fibre is completely in its infancy, look at the speeds the copper network got to from 56k dial up. And to think some think it's wasted money, that patchy 5g and satellite technologies are good enough. Fibre is the only medium that's future proof!

Capt'n Midnight

oscarBravo wrote: »

...and that's what we mean when we talk about fibre being future-proof.

The Wizards of Oz used 80 different wavelengths of light at the same time to get 40Tb/s through a single fibre.

Probably not coming to a home near you anytime soon though. But it means that existing core links can be upgraded so contention shouldn't be a big issue.

The Cush

Comreg commissioned report into enet's MANs pricing, submitted to the Minister last summer but only published last Friday and buried in an updated Feb 2019 press release.

The MANs is the backbone of NBI's network.

Comreg says Enet has fixed its pricing issues - https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/comreg-says-enet-has-fixed-its-pricing-issues-40084991.html

enet Statement re ComReg Report - https://www.enet.ie/news/230/138/Statement-Re-ComReg-Report.html

clohamon

The Cush wrote: »

Comreg commissioned report into enet's MANs pricing, submitted to the Minister last summer but only published last Friday and buried in an updated Feb 2019 press release.

The MANs is the backbone of NBI's network.

Comreg says Enet has fixed its pricing issues - https://www.independent.ie/business/technology/comreg-says-enet-has-fixed-its-pricing-issues-40084991.html

<off-topic>
PWC report notable for the narrowness of the terms of reference and the breadth of the disclaimers.

We have not carried out anything in the nature of an audit nor, except where otherwise stated, have we subjected the financial or other information contained in this report to checking or verification procedures. Accordingly, we assume no responsibility and make no representations with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the information in this report, except where otherwise stated.
The scope of our work was limited to a review of documentary evidence made available to us and interviews with selected stakeholders. We have taken reasonable steps to check the accuracy of information provided to us but we have not independently verified all of the information provided to us relating to the services.
We have limited our review to those documents that we consider relevant to our Terms of Reference. We cannot guarantee that we have had sight of all relevant documentation or information that may be in existence and therefore cannot comment on the completeness of the documentation or information made available to us. Any documentation or information brought to our attention subsequent to the date of this report may require us to adjust our report accordingly.

Familiar MO from DECC on how to resist transparency in its work.....and btw the Department's Regulatory Division seems to have evaporated during the update of the website.

Looks like official Ireland has decided to seal the cesspit. Interesting to see if the Information Commissioner now rows in behind DECC and reverses his earlier decision to release the enet contracts. He's been considering this since last September's messy Supreme Court judgement - nearly five months ago.

NBAiii

The Cush wrote: »

Lots of titbits there but lacking detail.

RSP modem installation = ONT ?

Probably not. It's more likely to facilitate the NBI installer carrying the ISP router and installing it at the same time as the ONT along with other IPTV boxes if required. It would likely be an extra cost to the ISP to have NBI provide this service, the alternative for the ISP is to post or courier the router separately to the customer.

wireless improvement capabilities = mesh/homeplugs etc.?

Probably.

Steve F

Hi all
A crew of 4 or 5 men were at my address this morning ,<snip> , with cherry picker lift and an NBI van cutting tree branches.
Any idea what this means as far as how much longer till I'm told Fibre is available at my address?

heavydawson

Steve F wrote: »

Hi all
A crew of 4 or 5 men were at my address this morning ,<snip> , with cherry picker lift and an NBI van cutting tree branches.
Any idea what this means as far as how much longer till I'm told Fibre is available at my address?

There's no correlation. They were here at my place in Tipp 2 weeks ago, and we're due sometime from Sept->November this year.

They're cutting hedges in many deployment locations right now because they're only allowed to cut hedges at certain times of the year.

Under the Wildlife Act, legislation says: “Hedge/tree cutting should only be carried out during the period from September 1 to March 1 as it is an offence, under Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976, to cut or destroy any vegetation growing in land not then cultivated, or vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period March 1 to August 31.”

In accordance with provisions under Section 46 of the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000, and in recognition of the value of habitats – such as hedgerows for nesting birds – the cutting of trees and hedgerows is not permitted from March 1 to August 31, except for reasons of public health and safety, the act outlines.

The Cush

NBAiii wrote: »

The deployment area number is the reference used internally by NBI so Cavan is 29, Carrigaline is 25 etc.

The deployment areas 1 to 88 are enet OLT locations and are in alphabetical order from 1 to 81. I can only assume the subsequently decided they needed more locations and stuck the other 7 on the end.

DAs 89 to 207 are open eir locations and again are in alphabetical order from 89 to 146 with the rest tagged on as above.

Attached is enet's list of 88 co-location sites. All are located on the State owned MANs. All bar 2 of these are NBI OLT locations.

The 2 not included in the NBI first 88 are Blarney and Kells, both appear further down the NBP contract list of OLT locations, Kells OLT 124 and Granagh (Blarney?) OLT 117. In eircom exchanges?

Two other OLT locations, in the first 88 NBI OLT locations but not on the list of state-owned MANs co-location sites are Castlebar (OLT 84/PoH) and nearby Manulla (OLT 83). enet owns the MAN in Castlebar.

Dero

The Cush wrote: »

Attached is enet's list of 88 co-location sites.

Thanks for that. Interesting list. What does build phase signify? Is that your own tracking or does that come from some other source?

EDIT - Nevermind; I just spotted it on the enet site. Still don't know what the build phase is, but it doesn't seem to be NBP related.

heavydawson

Curious to know if people think that throttling will still be a thing once fibre is rolled out? I use a WISP and while they're generally excellent, there is noticeable throttling for things like Steam downloads during daytime vs night-time hours. We're talking going from (200KB-1MBps)Day -> 5MBps Night
With WISPs, is throttling done to manage the RAN or or the core network generally speaking? And if it's the core, then won't fibre have the same problem for a given WISP? Hoping people with a little more experience can enlighten me...

The Cush

Dero wrote: »

Still don't know what the build phase is, but it doesn't seem to be NBP related.

The state awarded contracts to build the metropolitan area networks in 2 phases.

Phase 1 - 28 networks
Phase 2 - 60 networks covering 66 towns
Total of 88 networks covering 94 cities/towns

Tony H

Just out for a walk with the dog and saw a group of guys around an eir manhole , asked them if they were running fiber by any chance and they told me they were , the cable they were running looked about an inch thick and was creme coloured , the best part is that they were about 100m from my house , so the area is Ringacoltig in Rushbrooke in Cobh if anyone is interested , my date on the site is Dec 2021 -March 2022 , so that looks that it might happen it that timeline if not sooner .