Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 31 January 2013
13. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he is satisfied with the availability of broadband nationwide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4756/13]
View answerConsiderable progress has been made in recent years in both the coverage and speeds of national broadband infrastructure, with a multiplicity of commercial operators, providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms. The Government has also undertaken a number of initiatives to bring broadband to those parts of the country where commercial operators have been unable to offer services. The combination of private investment and State interventions means that Ireland has met the EU Commission’s Digital Agenda for Europe target of having a basic broadband service available to all areas by 2013.
The Government, through the National Broadband Plan, which I published on 30 August last year, has recognised that the key imperative now is to ensure high speed broadband availability to all. The Plan commits to high speed broadband availability across the country by ensuring that high speed services of at least 30 Mbps are available to all of our citizens and businesses, well in advance of the EU’s target date of 2020. Ireland is now therefore moving to a new phase of public and private sector investment in broadband in Ireland which will see significantly improved speeds delivered across the country.
As a consequence of the recent multi-band spectrum auction conducted by ComReg, new high speed 4G telecoms services will be rolled out by mobile operators and will significantly increase the speeds available across wireless platforms. In addition, the commercial sector is already investing in high speed fixed line services, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas. The National Broadband Plan commits the Government to investing in areas where high speed services are not commercially viable and will not be provided by the market. This will ensure that citizens or businesses, wherever they are located, have a broadband connection which meets their needs to interact effectively with society and business.
