McCann FitzGerald have been retained by the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) as external lawyers to advise on its highly innovative Fibre to the Building (FTTB) broadband joint venture with Vodafone Ireland which recently obtained clearance from the European Commission.
The FTTB project will involve fibre being deployed on ESB's existing overhead and underground electricity distribution infrastructure to create a high capacity broadband wholesale open-access network covering 500 000 premises in 50 towns in Ireland in its first five years of operation. The FTTB network is expected to offer speeds from 200 Mbps to 1 000 Mbps (1 Gb).
The FTTB project is a first in Europe and was hailed by Communications Minister, Alex White TD, as "great news for Irish broadband customers and providers as it will drive competition in the sector, while giving 50 towns nationwide access to a market-leading, future-proofed broadband service,” The Minister also said that the project is "hugely significant in terms of the National Digital Strategy which aims to get more small businesses online. High-speed broadband is a crucial element for Ireland’s future competitiveness and this project will help ensure that Ireland is better connected than most countries in the world."
McCann FitzGerald lawyers, led by partner Damian Collins, were involved in providing competition and communications regulation, together with procurement law, advice on the initial set up of the project and in connection with the partner selection process.
Once Vodafone Ireland had been chosen by ESB as its partner, McCann FitzGerald worked with ESB’s in-house lawyers on the drafting of the Joint Venture Agreement and other agreements relating to access.
Most recently, our Brussels office filed the Form CO with the European Commission and obtained Phase 1 unconditional clearance under the EU Merger Regulation. In clearing the joint venture, the Commission noted that "the transaction will result in pro-competitive effects, since it will create a new infrastructure that offers higher speeds and will lead to the entry of a new competitor, to the benefit of consumers".
McCann FitzGerald Chairman John Cronin said: "We were very pleased to assist ESB on this project and to leverage our expertise and reputation in complex infrastructure projects and in the interplay between competition and communications regulation. We were able to put together a team which worked closely with ESB’s internal lawyers to deliver this outcome which is not only a success for ESB and Vodafone but also, as the Minister said, a major contribution to Ireland future competitiveness".
