The telecommunications market in Ireland has been fully liberalised since 1999 and, since then, has seen the steady growth and development of vibrant well-regulated competition in the provision of the full range of telecommunications products and services.
The Government is not a player in this market and can only intervene in cases of market failure.
Between the significant private and public sector investments over recent years all areas of the country now have access to at least a basic broadband service.
The Rural Broadband Scheme, which recently closed for applications, aims to identify the remaining individual premises in rural Ireland, including county Tipperary, outside of the NBS areas that are unable to obtain a broadband service and to provide a basic broadband service to those premises, where requested.
The Verification Phase of the Scheme will now commence. Under this phase efforts will be made to obtain a service for those who have applied under the Scheme from commercial Internet Service Providers under existing market terms.
If internet service providers confirm that a particular applicant cannot be served at present, the Rural Broadband Scheme will seek to offer a service through whichever company is successful in bidding for the RBS procurement contract.
The procurement process is expected to commence toward the end of October and will aim to identify the preferred supplier. Pending contract negotiations a service provider will be appointed in early 2012.
Roll-out of the service under the Scheme is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
The Government accepts that the widespread availability of next generation broadband is a key requirement in delivering future economic and social development.
Under the NewERA proposals in the Programme for Government, there is a commitment to co-invest with the private sector and commercial Semi State sector to provide Next Generation Broadband customer access to every home and business in the State. The Next Generation Broadband Taskforce has an important role, in this regard.
In June of this year I convened the Taskforce which I chair and which also comprises the Minister of State with responsibility for NewERA, Fergus O'Dowd, T.D., the CEOs of all of the major telecommunications companies currently operating in the Irish market and the CEOs of some Internet Service Provider companies. The purpose of the Taskforce is to discuss the optimal policy environment required to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband across Ireland.
The Taskforce, and four Working Groups reporting to it, are considering issues such as appropriate targets, private sector investment plans, and the role of Government in driving and facilitating investment. The Taskforce met earlier this week and will meet again in December. I expect that it will help to identify the optimal policy to deliver wider customer access to high-speed broadband generally and thereby assist in delivering on the commitment in the Programme for Government.