Eir’s extra 200K FTTH - When? Where?

clohamon

On August 11th 2021 Eircom/Eir/Openeir announced an extension of their fibre (FTTH) network to a further 200,000 premises.

Eir press release

https://www.eir.ie/pressroom/eirs-Gigabit-Fibre-network-to-expand-to-a-further-200000-homes-and-businesses/

Journal.ie

https://www.thejournal.ie/eir-broadband-2-5520066-Aug2021/

Silicon Republic

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/eir-200000-premises-gigabit-fibre-broadband-roll-out

RTE

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0811/1240151-eir-expands-gigabit-fibre-network-to-200-000-premises/

Irish Independent

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/eir-to-add-200000-homes-to-itsreal-fibre-broadband-roll-out-40739794.html

Irish Times

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/eir-to-roll-out-gigabit-fibre-to-a-further-200-000-premises-1.4644070

Questions remain as to whether this is simply a tactical announcement to head off a further State Aided measure to deal with those not included in the NBP or existing Eir/SIRO/VM fibre deployments.

….or whether it is a tactical announcement to encourage the regulator to drop the requirement for a copper network and the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

As the announcement is short on detail and open to interpretation, further questions remain concerning whether the 200K deployment has a capital budget, when it will start, when it will finish and whether Eircom will cooperate in good faith with the NBP.

joe123

At first I assumed this was only for those areas not in the IA so everyone on 30Mb-100Mb FTTC speeds, but as mentioned in the NBI thread, would Open Eir actively connect your neighbours house on 30Mb but ignore neighboring houses on the same cabinet of speeds below 30Mb.

I'm in this very boat, while I'm connected to VDSL, due to distance I can only get 14Mb....as can much of my estate.

Checking the openEir map I get the below messaging. Im hoping the below is true and not some weird stalling tactic from Eir. If we see Eir once again connect neighbours and then leave the rest to the NBI itl be sickening.

I would love to know what timeframes they are looking at.

BArra

basing off my own IFN Eir progress, it took circa one year from their contractors putting in fibre ducting to go live to be able to order

15/7/2020 - KN/Circet team installing underground fibre ducting, with some poles having a black ducting cable spooled off quarter way up the pole

29/7/2020 - Eir crew out replacing telephone poles

26/8/2020 - Several KN/Circet crews with a mini-digger fixing collapsed ducts

8/12/2020 - KN Circet crew fiddling at a few poles

4/2/2021 - Eir crew started to blow fibre into existing ducting

11/2/2021 - Distribution Points on poles being installed

2/3/2021 - Eir crew blowing fibre still

7/5/21 - Looks like all DPs installed since yesterday, eir techs told me they expect it to be ready by end of May, he said they work out from the exchange so once they finish the build out its ready for order.

23/6/21 - RFO date released

KildareP

Our village had Eir's rural rollout completed recently in the further out areas not previously capable of receiving xDSL based broadband but we were deemed too small for the more central locations to be covered as many of us could get up to 100Mb on VDSL and the population was <1,000 to be included under the urban rollout programme.

I had noticed a lot of activity by KN recently in the area over thr last month, 4 or 5 vans at a time around the village opening up all of the chambers for days on end. Had put it down to a lot of new builds being completed which were still getting brand new copper based services rolled in.

Strongly suspect now that they were actually surveying for full fibre. Our Eircode shows the same message as yours joe about being included in the upgrade program which it didn't before. Luckily most of the estates are built in the last 10-15 years and are fully ducted so hoping it'll be a quick and easy rollout!

joe123

So Adrian Wreckler confirmed that this rollout is only going to be for those on FTTC receiving 30Mb+

As I first feared, anyone below that has to wait on the NBI. Unreal that we are once again going to see next door neighbours connected while others could be waiting 2/3 years more.

https://twitter.com/adrianweckler/status/1427245162296664068

Gunner3629

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761816#Comment_117761816

If they went for FTTC customers with <30Mbs they'd be encroaching on NBI. That would never have been the plan.

dam099

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117762825#Comment_117762825

If they had the capital budget I'm sure they would have no problem encroaching on NBI but given they seem to want to compete in urban areas it appears that's where they are prioritising their funds. If they encroached and asked to take out of NBI they would possibly have to sign commitment contracts again and be locked in to timelines they may not want to commit to for these areas.

joe123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117762825#Comment_117762825

It was mentioned a good few times within the NBI thread that they have already encroached in a good few areas. The other estate in my town being one of them. Appx 80 houses all connected to FTTH by OpenEir last year despite being in the IA.

NBAiii

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117761816#Comment_117761816

Adrian Weckler is a press release recycler. He has little to no knowledge of this issue. As you have already noted eir have built in the intervention area and they will continue to do so where it suits their interests, they will not have to sign any contracts or look for Government permission.

Xithus

@Gunner3629 Posted this map in the NBI thread. It might be a good idea to have it at the top in your post @clohamon

open eir broadband checker (arcgis.com)

Xithus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763355#Comment_117763355

Is there any roadmap for the so caled blue area rollout? I'm wondering if it'll be months / years.

HoggyRS

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117757172#Comment_117757172

There is no more brand new copper in the eir network, all new estates get fibre. So highly suspect something fibre based is happening in your locality.

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763358#Comment_117763358

The Openeir IFN was due to start in June 2019 for 1.4M premises with a five year roll-out. As of April 2021 net 409K had been passed. On that calculation, it is behind schedule, but over the last year they've been doing about 22k/month.

The network had already passed 749,000 homes at the end of April, including 340,000 that had originally been earmarked for the NBP. The aim is to extend this to 1.7 million premises over the next three years. (Irish Times)

It's not clear when the 200K starts and if it will run concurrently with the IFN, but with a total of 1.19M remaining and at a rate of 22K/month, the whole job (IFN + 200K) could take 54 months from April last; i.e. late 2025.

kaizersoze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763317#Comment_117763317

This! Weckler is clueless with far too much weight put behind his articals.

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764633#Comment_117764633

Could be onto something.

Ran a couple of Eircodes through the availability checker just now and anything completed up to about November of last year is showing as passing for copper (up to 100Mb). These would have been premises from an existing FTTC cabinet which was in all likelihood not full.

Anything completed this side of the New Year however is passing for FTTH (1Gbps).

I would hope they will start to backfill ASAP.

EDIT: Seems it's being very sporadic, two semi-D's completed last year, one shows as 1Gb and the other 100Mb. Have to assume it's all fibre so.

joe123

Has there been anymore on this since the original announcement? Any extra timeline? Or is this technically just added to their IFN rollout?

Im really curious to see if their website is correct and that all areas connected on FTTC will be included despite being below the 30Mb and in the Intervention Area with NBI.

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117884175#Comment_117884175

Hard to know what's going on with Eircom's IFN. According to their published Q4 results the national FTTH roll-out is going backwards. It could be a typo but maybe someone should ask for confirmation of the true figure.

Q4 results to 2021-06-30

675,000 premises now passed with FTTH across Ireland, up 37% or 181,000.

https://www.eir.ie/pressroom/eir-announces-results-for-the-fourth-quarter-and-twelve-months-to-30-June-2021/

Q3 results to 2021-03-30

820,000 premises now passed with FTTH across Ireland, up 64% or 319,000

https://www.eir.ie/pressroom/eir-announces-third-quarter-FY21-results-to-31-March-2021/

On the < 30Mb/s urban group, you'll remember that Ms Lennon's letter to the Department (re Eircom's alternative NBP) left this group out of their plan. Presumably because Eircom intended to get them above 30Mb/s somehow.

Xithus

I think maybe just once a month (or maybe 6 months) I'll chance my arm and ask if anyone has any updates on this topic. I wonder if Eir / OpenEir will ever give any type of time frame for it.

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117980386#Comment_117980386

The 'Copper switch-off' consultations might be relevant. It's in Eircom's interest to bring the 200K within the timeframe of the IFN (late 2024 !?) if they wish to persuade ComReg to let them stand down the copper network.

https://www.comreg.ie/media/2021/08/Call-for-Inputs-Migration-from-Legacy-Infrastructure-FINAL.pdf

heavydawson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118014835#Comment_118014835

Am I reading this right? They're planning to shut off the copper network prior to the completion of the NBP roll-out (at 95% rollout from what I can tell) ? I know Eir are not involved in NBP

Surely the obvious thing to do is get the fibre in place for _all_ households, then give people the option to move over to fibre or get cut off? What about the 5% left with no copper and/or fibre?

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015055#Comment_118015055

Its (Eircom) exchange specific*. And the date of ComReg's decision does not imply the date of coming into force. The Eircom white paper in the annex is worth a read. It's a kind of Hail Mary opening bid.

*Exchange area must have 95% FTTP and >30Mb/s for remainder and substitutable voice product.

heavydawson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118015196#Comment_118015196

Yeah my reading is that it's basically when 95% FTTP + 12 months, at which point they start turning off copper (at a per exchange basis as you say).

The eircom whitepaper is interesting in that it mentions the NBP will reach all premises in 5-7 years but take 15 years to "fully migrate services to its network" Not sure what that last part is about? But I'm assuming that 95% threshold in IA exchanges will be hit as each DA is completed but potentially a long time before the "migration" mentioned has occurred.

clohamon

Eircom looking to sell half its fibre network (by value) reports Irish Times.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/eir-planning-to-sell-almost-half-of-irish-fibre-network-1.4708296

Hard to know if the proceeds will actually be used for investment or dividends.

dam099

Maybe the State should invest and make it a condition they allow NBI to utilise it where they already service part way out in rural areas.

theguzman

Is Virgins Urban network open to competition in the same way as OpenEIR's and the newly emerging NBI Network? If not it should be.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118062606#Comment_118062606

There is a process underway within NBI where they are looking at alternatives methods or networks to connect approx. 5,000 premises including NBP premises within urban areas, end of rural ribbons beyond where eir ended their rural rollout, difficult to reach premises, etc. According to the the Dept of Comms discussion with the Rural Affairs committee this week 5 bidders have expressed an interest, I assume eir are amongst them.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118064247#Comment_118064247

No, Virgin Media's cable network in not open access.

Comreg said previously

ComReg’s position is that Virgin Media’s CATV network is not a sufficiently strong indirect constraint to warrant the inclusion of CATV-based retail services in the WLA Market.

clohamon

Slightly related USO-AFL decision news.

https://www.comreg.ie/publication/universal-service-requirements-provision-of-access-at-a-fixed-location-afl-uso-response-to-consultation-and-decision

• ComReg maintains USO Functional Internet Access at 28.8Kb/s
• Eircom to continue as USP until 30th June 2023.
• The €1000 excess is gone. 'Reasonable' alternative test applies.
• Eircom can now provide voice USO as part of a broadband bundle. eg VOIP

There's a lot of buck-passing and blame-gaming over the Department's delay* in transposing the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC). ComReg claim that they may continue to regulate under the previous regulation dating back to 2011 vis-a-vis what amounts to Adequate Broadband Internet Access Service (ABB-IAS). The explanation for continuing with 28.8Kb/s is surreal (see page 87)

It's not all bad news, there are hints that ComReg will impose the Annex 5** minimum services (including video calls at standard quality) when the EECC is transposed and when the NBP and commercial FTTP deployments are more advanced.

In the same document Eircom are quoted ..

"eir’s capital investment is efficiently focussed on developing a full fibre access network which will replace the copper network during this decade.”

* overdue since 21st December 2020

** https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018L1972&from=EN (p.196)

EarWig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118061421#Comment_118061421

Neil has been just as bad as any private equity outfit for extracting cash from Eir. But, taken with the SIRO announcement, I think there's a chance that Eir may announce an increase in their capital expenditure budget. Take-up rates seem to have improved and prices too have jumped. So maybe the business case has been transformed.

clohamon

Eircom’s results to 2021-09-30 showing latest combined FTTP deployments at 715K; about 13K per month since last quarter.

Subtracting the IFN figure (349K) and the 340K rural from the overall that leaves about 20K unaccounted for.

NB. since last quarter they now measure ‘address points’ (like FTTP) rather than 'delivery points’ (like FTTH).

Xithus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763355#Comment_117763355

It seems like the mention of my area being part of Eir's planned expansion has been removed from the map. It's back to just telling me I can get up to 100mb. 😕