Full coverage: National Broadband Plan

The investors brought along by David McCourt since he won the National Broadband Plan contract are forming a new company to commercialise related technology and turn the team who developed it into a permanent “centre of excellence”. Strict procurement rules apply.

As National Broadband Ireland started to connect rural customers to the new state-subsidised network last year, it also plugged its management team into a new share-based compensation scheme.

A Spanish investment firm is buying out the hedge fund managers that bankrolled the State’s rural broadband contractor, providing longer-term backing. What do we know about the terms of the deal?

National Broadband Ireland and the government have decided to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the rural connectivity plan, answering The Currency’s questions last week. Rules applicable to listed companies could helpfully replace such ad-hoc disclosures on public-private partnerships.

Two months after National Broadband Ireland’s first accounts raised multiple questions, the company sits down with The Currency and provides answers including its full list of shareholders and the conditions attached to controversial loan funding.

The government has provided some answers to the questions surrounding the financial structure of NBI, including conditions for the debt funding provided by private investors and the calculation of fees paid to a company controlled by David McCourt.

The Department of Communication has declined a fresh freedom of information request for the full National Broadband Plan contract. Its response reveals the volume of documents kept secret and the fact that the contract has changed multiple times since it was signed.

New financial information adds complexity to the structure of loans advanced by investors in National Broadband Ireland, whose chairman David McCourt is now separately borrowing against related assets.

The government has been at pains to answer questions from the opposition on the capital structure of National Broadband Ireland. Misrepresentation of The Currency’s reporting did not help clarify matters.

The unsteady financial structure of National Broadband Ireland is set to undergo scrutiny in the Dáil as it continues to collect subsidies from a maximum €2.97 billion pot of taxpayers’ money.