John Ellis
Question:143 Mr. Ellis asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the plans she has for the development of broadband services in the north west. [14950/01]
Written Answers. - Telecommunications Services.
The provision of telecommunications services including broadband services is a matter in the first instance for the companies who now operate in a fully liberalised market. My responsibility is for public policy in the sector within which these companies operate. The widest possible availability of competitive services traditionally has been an important objective of Irish telecommunications policy. I have, in recent years, put in place a number of initiatives, which seek to address gaps in communications infrastructure in Ireland, particularly by bringing broadband connectivity to regional and rural areas.
Under the National Development Plan 1994-1999, 26 million was made available to support the roll-out of broadband to the regions. Some 13 projects which rolled-out broadband nationwide were supported and are now nearing completion. A number of these projects entailed the roll-out of broadband services in the north-west. Esat Telecom were supported in the roll-out of fibre optic cable in urban areas including Sligo and Letterkenny. Esat also extended their backbone network to Castlerea, Ballyhaunis, Sligo and Collooney. Eircom were allocated funding for the installation of a 95 km high capacity fibre optic cable along the west coast of Donegal, from Bunbeg to Donegal town and from Dunfanaghy to Falcarragh serving all communities along the route.
The figure allocated to telecommunications initiatives has been significantly increased under the National Development Plan 2000-2006, to 200 million. A first call for proposals was run last year and on foot of submissions received I signed nine contracts at the beginning of the year which will result in additional investment in the regions in broadband infrastructure. The projects involved will be completed over the next two years and will entail overall investment of 160 million in broadband leveraged from grant assistance of approximately 55 million.
Among these projects the north-west will benefit from the building of the ESB fibre-optic network through Sligo and Donegal, the presence of Nevadatele's communications centres in Carrick-on-Shannon and Sligo and the construction of a broadband communications corridor by Chorus from Mayo through Sligo and into Donegal. Additional details of these projects are available at www.ndpcomms.gov.ie.