Fianna Fáil deputy for Roscommon-Galway, Eugene Murphy, says the decision by SIRO to exit the tender process for the National Broadband Plan is a severe indictment of the Government’s failure to deliver on its commitments to bring high speed broadband to rural Ireland.
Deputy Murphy said the announcement that SIRO have pulled out of the tender process is no surprise due to the fact that Eir have always been favoured by the Government to implement the National Broadband Plan, and other companies have been frozen out of the process.
“This is a serious situation in relation to competition in the sector and may see a monopoly in the broadband market which will inevitably see the consumer paying more for the service,” the deputy commented. “If Enet, who are the second company still in the tender process with Eir, decide to pull out of the process at this stage it will see the National Broadband Plan in limbo and potentially the Government will have to start the process again setting it back years.
“Rural Ireland is in desperate need of a high speed broadband infrastructure and now with just two potential bidders in the running for the contract the delivery of the services must be the priority of the Government to ensure that rural Ireland is not left out in the cold once again, unable to attract new business and jobs.
