Project Gigabit NI - Open Market Review - Public Review

Overview

The UK Government’s ambition is to deliver nationwide gigabit-capable broadband as soon as possible. It is recognised that there is a need for government intervention in the parts of the country where this is not commercially viable. This is why the government has committed £5 billion for the hardest to reach parts of the country, ensuring no area is left behind. This will be achieved through a package of coordinated and mutually supportive interventions, collectively known as Project Gigabit.

As part of this, the Department for the Economy (DfE) in Northern Ireland, along with Building Digital UK (BDUK), is developing a procurement approach for funding contracts to suppliers delivering gigabit-capable wholesale infrastructure. This procurement approach will be a successor to the highly successful Superfast broadband programme and Project Stratum. As a result of significant commercial investment and vital public intervention in Northern Ireland, an increasing number of homes and businesses now have access to improved broadband services, with gigabit-capable accessibility now the highest in the UK. As such, it may be the case that a procurement under Project Gigabit may be smaller in scale to ongoing deployment under Project Stratum. However, the scale and scope of a target intervention area will only be known as a result of analysis of data following an Open Market Review and a subsequent Public Review. Further details of this Public Review can be found on the Department's website

As of January 2022, BDUK has been asking suppliers who are delivering gigabit-capable infrastructure to submit national data returns on a 4-monthly basis (January, May and September) of their detailed build plans at premises level. The purpose of this “National Rolling Open Market Review” (NR OMR) is to ensure that we have the most up to date information about suppliers’ existing and planned build over the next 3-year period.

The January 2022 NR OMR was used as a ‘soft launch’ of the new process and as such, BDUK invited a small number of suppliers to participate in this collection. For the May 2022 NR OMR BDUK extended the invitation to more suppliers with the intention of including all suppliers over the coming months.

This Public Review (PR) is being launched using supplier data collected through the September 2022 (NR OMR).

The PR process aims to validate the outcome of the OMR and DfE’s mapping to ensure that it correctly represents the information provided by suppliers in the course of the OMR and to ensure that the right areas are targeted for government investment, with supplier submissions being used to inform eligibility across Project Gigabit (please see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/project-gigabit-uk-gigabit-programme for more information about Project Gigabit). Data collected from the PR will be used to inform GigaHubs and UK Gigabit Voucher eligibility as well as support the development of other potential BDUK interventions.

We invite stakeholders (including the public, businesses, internet service providers and broadband infrastructure operators) to provide us with feedback about the proposed eligible area for government investment set out in this document.

Suppliers who missed contributing to the preceding OMR, had no definitive plans and/or evidence base on which to substantiate claims at that earlier stage, or have subsequently updated their plans, now have a final opportunity to notify BDUK before the procurement stage. The premises identified by BDUK as eligible may be grouped into one or more appropriately sized Intervention Areas (IAs). The IAs will be issued to the market so that suppliers can bid for funding to support delivery to those areas.

Why your views matter

Purpose of this Public Review Request For Information

This PR defines the proposed eligible areas, as determined during the OMR, to enable all interested stakeholders (including the public, businesses, internet service providers and broadband infrastructure operators) to comment on those proposals.

The outcome of the OMR is shown within the map published in PR document and associated postcode list published alongside this document.

As part of this PR, we will request and then evaluate any further responses in order to validate the eligibility of the premises for government subsidy. During the evaluation exercise, we may engage with suppliers further to discuss and confirm their coverage claims.

Following this, we will be able to determine the premises to be included in procurements. The flowchart below (Figure 1) shows a summary of how the OMR process works.

Figure 1- Public Review Process

Respondents should be aware the the Department's Pivacy Policy at Privacy | Department for the Economy (economy-ni.gov.uk)

What happens next

This PR will take place over the period of at least one month, and once concluded will confirm the eligibility of premises for procurements. The full details of these procurements will follow the conclusion of this OMR and Public Review. The flowchart below (Figure 2) shows the order of processes, from OMR to procurement.

Figure 2 - OMR to Procurement

All meaningful responses to the PR will be carefully considered and where necessary, used to determine eligible premises. The final eligible area maps and a summary report confirming details of the changes will be published on the DfE website after the close of the review period. The finalised eligible premises and proposed IA(s) will then be submitted to BDUK’s National Competence Centre (NCC) for approval against the UK Subsidy Control Regime. The responses and output from the PR will therefore help us gain further confidence that the proposed interventions are in areas that are eligible for subsidy, i.e., areas which are not commercially viable and require government intervention to address market failure. Data collected from the PR will be used to inform GigaHubs and UK Gigabit Voucher eligibility as well as support the development of other potential BDUK interventions. Supplier submissions will be used to inform eligibility across Project Gigabit (please see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/project-gigabit-uk-gigabit-programme for more information about Project Gigabit).