The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is, in the first instance, a matter for the private sector. Broadband service providers operate in a fully liberalised market, regulated, where appropriate, by the independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.
The role of the Government is to formulate regulatory and infrastructure policies to facilitate the provision of high quality telecommunications services, by competing private sector service providers.
The latest OECD statistics show Ireland maintaining its strong growth in terms of per-capita subscriber growth over the year to end of December 2007. Ireland added 5.89 subscribers per 100 inhabitants during 2007, far ahead of the OECD average of 3.02 per 100 inhabitants and third fastest of all OECD countries.
My attention is also firmly fixed on next generation broadband networks. I recently published a draft policy paper on Next Generation Broadband Networks for consultation. The paper considers the optimum role for Government in facilitating the roll out of high speed broadband networks and sets out the Government's commitments in that regard. A central commitment is that there will be universal access to broadband by end 2009/early 2010 and that by 2012 our broadband speeds will equal or exceed those in comparator EU regions.