Five bidders have expressed interest in the bidding process of the high speed broadband network PPP project under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) in Ireland.

In January, the Irish Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources launched the request for expression of interest for the project.

One of the interested teams is the E-Net consortium, formed by 3i Group, the multinational private equity and venture capital company based in London, a division of Berkshire Hathaway, an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, John Laing Group, the British developer and operator specialized in PPP projects, Granahan McCourt, the private investment firm focused on investments in the telecommunications and media industries, and E-Net Corporation.

This consortium has also appointed Northern Powergrid, the electrical distribution company, and Kelly Communications, a British telecommunications and utilities service provider, as the future project operators.

Gigabit consortium has also expressed interest in the project development. The consortium is backed by Infracapital, a private equity firm.

The other bidders are Eircom Limited (Eir)​, an Ireland's telecoms provider, Siro, the telecommunications joint venture between ESB and Vodafone and Dublin-based Imagine Communications Group, who provides alternative business telecommunications services. The Imagine Communications Group is backed by Macquarie.

The selected bidder will design, finance, develop, construct, operate, maintain and exploit a wholesale Next Generation Access network and associated services within the NBP Intervention Area (IA), which currently covers over 750 000 premises. The concession period will be 25 years.

The total project investment is estimated between US$1.15 billion and US$1.7 billion.

The IA is split into two geographic areas and a combined area as follows:

• Lot Area A: Southern Intervention Area
• Lot Area B: Northern Intervention Area
• Lot Area C: Combined Northern and Southern Intervention Area

Bidders can opt for the Lot Areas individually or for the entire IA.