The rural broadband project is still on the right track despite the last blow

The broadband consortium Enet insisted yesterday that its call for offers for broadband service in rural Ireland is on track.

The last blow to the troubled project came when the giant of the SSE infrastructure left Enet, which prompted opposition members to badert that the "wheels were detached" from the National Broadband Plan (NBP).

Fianna Fáil said it was the "last disaster" at the NBP and claimed that it reflected the lazy attitude of Fine Gael in rural areas.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin has marked the idea of ​​having fiber optic Internet by 2020, a "fantasy" and asked that the work be entrusted to the ESB networks belonging to the # 39; State.

Proposals to provide better bandwidth to 500,000 people in rural Ireland have been hit several times.

But Enet, who is now the only bidder for the contract, said last night that his offer would be ready in a few weeks, despite the withdrawal of SSE.

SSE gave no reason for the decision but said that she wished her former partners – Granahan McCourt, John Laing plc and the Irish Infrastructure Fund – and the government well in the project .

Enet President David McCourt said that the consortium was built to include "the best global expertise in network building, especially in telecom, coordinating all the elements needed to fund a project of this scale in partnership with the government ".

He added, "To this we have added some world-clbad infrastructure development funds to the world and the NBP in particular."

million. McCourt said the process was "very well engaged".

"We are a few weeks from the submission of our last call for tenders," he said.

"The team is very focused on the conclusion of the procurement phase of this project and the rapid delivery."

But Fianna Fáil's spokesperson, Timmy Dooley, said: "At every step, the Fine Gael" With the withdrawal of SSE from the Enet offer, it is clear that none of the companies able to provide the National Broadband Plan can not see a path to a decent financial return. "

Again, the Fine Gael and its partners in government, whatever they are, have not failed to provide the money needed to roll out the national plan on broadband. "

Brian Stanley, of Sinn Féin, said that the model proposed by the government for broadband was" not viable ".

He argued that the only way to provide the fiber optic Internet to every home in the country is to entrust the work to ESB Networks, a public company.

"The idea that we will have fiber in every house by 2020 with the current model is a fantasy headed by the Fine Gael," he said.

Rural Affairs Minister Sean Kyne rejected the opposition's claims that the plan "fails," saying it is "still in progress."

Irish freelance