Limerick Fibre plan

kavav

Hello

I just saw this in the paper today and i thought it sounded interesting. Does anybody have any details on what is being planned? Is this the start of the "123 town fibre plan that was announced a few weeks ago?

Thanks Kev

Title:
Civil Works

Awarding Authority: Shannon Broadband

Abstract:
Shannon Broadband Ltd. (in formation) plans to deploy 27 km duct, sub-ducting and dark fibre infrastructure with co-location facilities around Limerick City and environs and invites Expressions of Interest from civil engineering contractors to construct this network.

Application Deadline:
Friday 10 May, 2002

Tender Deadline Date:
Friday 10 May, 2002

Tender Deadline Time:
17:00

Notice Type:
Tenders

Full Notice:
LIMERICK BROADBAND METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FROM CIVIL ENGINEERING CONTRACTORS
Shannon Broadband Ltd. (in formation) plans to deploy 27 km duct, sub-ducting and dark fibre infrastructure with co-location facilities around Limerick City and environs and invites Expressions of Interest from civil engineering contractors to construct this network.

Following this call, all contractors wishing to be considered for this project will be requested to forward details of their business, demonstrate adequate resources in terms of manpower, technical expertise and finance to successfully complete the project.

As a result of this call, Shannon Broadband Ltd. may seek to pre-qualify applicants to participate in a further procedure involving responses to detailed construction briefs followed by evaluation and interviews. The successful contractors will then be short-listed for a tender panel.

Expressions of Interest and requests for additional information should be sent in writing (by post or fax) to:
Shannon Broadband Ltd.
c/o Company Secretary
Shannon Development
Town Centre
Shannon
Co. Clare
Fax (061) 361903

Expressions of Interest should include a contact email address to be used by Shannon Broadband Ltd. for issuing of additional documentation.

The full scope of work is subject to the granting of funding by the Department of Public Enterprise.

The closing date for the receipt of Expressions of Interest is 1700 (local time) on 10th May 2002. For any queries relating to this Call for Expressions of Interest, please contact David Gilligan on (061) 503214.

Publication Date: Thursday 25 Apr, 2002

dahamsta

The tender document is available on the Government Public Sector Procurement Portal. (This is essentially what kavav posted, I'm just posting it for reference. Thanks to the person who pointed this out to me.)

adam

spongebob

I am glad to see sfadco biting the bullet.

They must be sick of the "Western Digital Corridor" by now..

This is a large scale fibre installation that runs Shannon-Ennis-Galway-Athlone-Dublin.

Installed in 2000

Never used, not yet undead. ESAT refuse to light it, sell it, or let other carriers have access to it. They acquired it from Ocean, remember them?

M

pete

Anyone interested in keeping up to date with what broadband - related tenders have been issued by councils / government can use this link:

Broadband Tenders at www.e-tenders.gov.ie

But be warned - it's quite slow.

scojones

i'm originally from shannon + going home from college today. i'll take a call in there to see what the story is

jbkenn

I spoke to Shannon Broadband when it was announced. basically its a civil engineering project, their brief is to build a fibre metropolitan ring around Limerick and Shannon and make it available to whatever Telco's wish to use it. They have no brief to encourage the provision of Broadband services, just to prevent the various Telco's digging up the roads at different times, and not give them the excuse of lack of fibre, as a reason for failing to implement broadband services.

jbkenn

topgold

Maybe I'm missing something, but I cannot figure out who is going to light this dark fibre once the ducting is down. Nor can I figure out who is going to administer it.

In a pub chat with Eircom techies, it seems Eircom isn't keen to use this fibre once it's in the ground.

It would be nice to know whether the local authorities are going to allow licensed installers to tap into the fibre and feed local homes and businesses with the connection. But that's suggesting the dark fibre is truly an unbundled local loop.

dahamsta

Hi Bernie,

The premise is that the operator of the fibre makes access available to anyone who wants it at cost price. The assumption is that all bandwidth will be acquired by a central authority, who will then pass it on to the local authorities actually managing the fibre. Since it will be buying in bulk, it should be able to cut costs substantially.

The entire project is skewed heavily towards Entreprise, and to SME's /only/ if they are located in "technology parks". IrelandOffline is consulting with the DPE on ways to make the rings more accessible to operators who may wish to offer service to SME's and consumers, by tying in to Eircom exchanges.

David Long will be able to provide better details than me on this subject.

adam