Motorways to drive fibre broadband breakthrough

Legislation clarifying how telecoms operators can access special ducting that runs beneath Ireland’s major motorways has just been approved in the Seanad.

Attempting civil engineering projects to dig up national roads or motorways to deploy fibre cabling until now meant getting permission from every single local authority, including town and county councils, in the country.

As a result, according to various telecom operators, the National Roads Authority (NRA) was reluctant to engage in these projects and a bottleneck ensued whereby ducting that already existed wasn’t being used.

The seriousness of the matter can be illustrated by the fact that a major multinational in Cork threatened to pull the plug on a major 600-job project last year because it was unable to deploy fibre to its nearby duct to access a nearby Metropolitan Area Network (MAN).

The situation would have seriously undermined Ireland’s attempts to become a major player in the digital economy.

Consequences of lack of significant fibre broadband
Lack of significant fibre broadband back-haul linking the 94 towns where MANs exist around Ireland could have serious ramifications for the nation’s future.

According to E-net, the first 27 towns to get MANs grew their share of foreign direct investment (FDI) from 24pc to 90pc in the first four years.

The new legislation effectively gives the NRA overall responsibility for the planning, supervision and construction of maintenance works on national roads and motorways.

The legislation amends Part 5 of the Communications (Regulation) Act 2002. Under the 2002 Act, local authorities are the sole consent giving authority for local, regional, national and motorways.

The amendment designates the NRA as a road authority for national roads, including motorways, and gives it overall responsibility for the planning, supervision and construction of maintenance works on national roads and motorways.

“It is also beneficial for telecom operators to deal with one single point of contact rather than potentially multiple local authorities,” the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan told Siliconrepublic.com.

“It will also greatly streamline the process for getting access to ducting running along national roads and motorways for telecoms operators.”

Minister Eamon Ryan's One Stop plan
The amendment will also pave the way for Ryan’s One Stop plan to make it easier for telecoms operators to access the State’s significant fibre assets and deepen Ireland’s fibre infrastructure and ripen the country for future investment.

“It is important as a country, that we play to our strengths and utilise the State assets which have the potential to provide high-speed fibre connectivity and progress the transition to next-generation networks. 

“The inclusion in the Bill of a provision whereby the NRA will provide a formal framework to make ducts on national roads and motorways accessible to telecoms operators is a further development in progressing the thinking behind the one-stop-shop concept.”

A major fibre stake-holder in the Irish economy told Siliconrepublic.com that access to ducting beneath motorways has been key to the rapid spread of fibre in countries like Germany, France and Spain.

According to Ronan Lupton of telecoms industry group ALTO a large amount of fibre ducting around Ireland has been lying idle. “It is contrary to the aspirations of a ‘smart economy’ not to have this infrastructure.

“There are situations in Cork and Limerick whereby if the MANs weren’t there major multinationals would have left the country by now.”

Article courtesy of siliconrepublic.com