Vol. 553 No. 2
425 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources his plans for the putting in place of open access broadband communications on a national basis, in accordance with the programme for Government. [13468/02]
On 8 March 2002 the Minister for Public Enterprise announced a major drive to bring high speed broadband access to 67 priority towns around the country. On 8 March, phase one and two of a regional broadband programme was launched and will ultimately see investment of up to 160 million euro in delivering town fibre optic networks in key locations regionally. A further phase of investment in broadband will involve each of the Twenty-Six Counties.
Phase one of the broadband programme will see 19 towns, many in the Border, midlands and west, BMW, region targeted immediately. Metropolitan area fibre optic networks will be built in these towns to link up with the existing backbone network in the country. The town links will facilitate consumers, educational establishments, industry and business and provide "always on" low cost and high speed Internet access which will drive the Government's e-commerce agenda. The relevant local authorities have been asked to enter procurement to establish firm prices for their proposals. Once procurement is completed, and subject to satisfactory pricing, contracts will be offered for these projects. It is anticipated that this will take place over the next two months. The first phase is being conducted in association with local and regional authorities which will receive 90% funding from the Exchequer. The launch of the second phase of the broadband programme will be contingent on the success of the first phase.
