Skip to main content
Normal View

National Broadband Plan Implementation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 October 2013

Tuesday, 1 October 2013

Questions (434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449)

Thomas Pringle

Question:

434. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, the fixed wireless access technologies he intends to accept in principle as NGA; the nominal maximum service radius that he will attribute to each qualifying FWA technology; the contention rates that will apply; and if these contention rates will be hard set and guaranteed in the future. [40947/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

435. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, the mobile technologies he intends to accept in principle as NGA technologies; in the case of LTE advanced, the specific elements of the draft 3GPP standard that will be required to qualify; the provisioning requirements that will be required in the case of each mobile technology to qualify as NGA, including the maximum number of residences and businesses to be provisioned by a cell sector and the required amount of spectrum to be available per sector per provider in each of the relevant spectrum bands. [40948/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

436. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, and regarding mobile technologies that he might include, the requirements he deems necessary to ensure the required quality of service level to users at a fixed locations while serving other nomadic subscribers in the area of interest as required by the state aid guidelines; the nominal data service radius he intends to attribute to each qualifying mobile technology at 800 Mhz, 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz and 2100 Mhz; if he plans to carry out coverage modelling in respect of all qualifying mobile cell sectors; the way he intends to verify that mobile coverage; the way he intends to ensure that qualifying mobile services remain properly provisioned through time. [40949/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

437. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, the VDSL variants that will be accepted as NGA; if they will qualify in principle or qualify subject to individual line speed test; if the mapping will include tested eligibility or submitted coverage or service areas based on radius; and in the case of eligibility if he will outline the qualifying line test speed that will be accepted as NGA. [40950/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

438. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan in the case of service radius, the nominal speed that will be be attributed to each VDSL variant at 100 m, 200 m, 300 m, 400 m, 500 m, 600 m, 700 m, 800 m, 900 m,1000 m, 1100 m and 1200 m; if those are straight line distances or cable lengths; the factor that will be used to convert straight line distance to cable length for the purposes of mapping qualifying VDSL areas; and what is the nominal service radius beyond which each VDSL variant will no longer be accepted as sufficiently fast. [40951/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

439. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan and in relation to planned VDSL services, if vectoring or bonding are considered as qualifying planned investments and the assumptions that will be used regarding speed uplift to each VDSL variant, at 100 m, 200 m, 300 m, 400 m, 500 m, 600 m, 700 m, 800 m, 900 m,1000 m, 1100 m and 1200 m, due to vectoring and separately due to bonding; and the separate assumptions that have been made for card level and for system level vectoring. [40952/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

440. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, which fibre to the building and fibre to the kerb technologies will be mapped; and what will be the definition of deployment in relation to these technologies; if in-building or kerb-to-building cabling will count as additional infrastructure and if unlit deployments will qualify for inclusion. [40953/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

441. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, which fibre to the home technologies will be mapped; if unlit deployments qualify for inclusion; the requirements that will be in place regarding wholesale access in respect of planned FTTH investments and in view of the fact that a single FTTH infrastructure is more likely in rural areas if he will require multi-fibre P2P architectures for eligibility as planned investments as recommended by the State aid guidelines. [40954/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

442. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, which cable technologies will be mapped; and the requirements that will be put in place in respect of planned investments. [40955/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

443. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access and basic broadband maps being prepared for the national broadband plan, which mapping application software is being used; the radio wave propagation software that is being used; the source reference of the elevation data being used; if the elevation data includes structures and vegetation; and if providers who do not supply coverage data will have their service areas estimated or excluded from the map. [40956/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

444. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, the action he will take in respect of credible information from a member of the public regarding the non-availability or not-spot of an indicated current service at a specific location and if he intends to register, retain and publish such information from the public. [40957/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

445. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, if he intends to carry out field tests to verify the map; the methodology that will be employed in carrying out field tests; and if there are other means he intends to employ to verify the map. [40958/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

446. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan and in relation to the plausibility test for planned investments required by the EU state aid guidelines, the business case plausibility criteria that will be used to evaluate planned investments; the financial data that will be required from providers to provide assurance that the investments will in fact materialise; if a financial bond will be required to provide further assurance in that regard; and the way that bond would be calculated. [40959/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

447. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan, if he will confirm that 19 July 2013 is the final date for completion of planned investments to qualify for inclusion on the map; and the percentage of area of the planned investment that must be completed by 19 July 2013. [40960/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

448. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the next generation access map being prepared for the national broadband plan and in relation to the finalised intervention areas, if a grid, similar to the electoral division grid used in the national broadband scheme, will be used to delineate the boundaries of the identified intervention area; the type of grid to be used in the NBP such as ED, CSO small areas square blocks; the block size in the case of a block grid; and the percentage area of NGA cover in a grid element below which will trigger inclusion of that element in the intervention. [40961/13]

View answer

Thomas Pringle

Question:

449. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources regarding the national broadband plan, if the NBP contractor will be contractually and financially enabled to step in to extend intervention coverage where planned private investments identified in the mapping exercise fail to materialise or are below the forecast quality in terms of performance or provisioning or are behind schedule; if similar remedies will be undertaken in the case of those excluded because of the vagaries of the grid system employed, or because of mapping errors; if a contingency fund will be available for this purpose; if he will require progress reviews of planned investments; and the intervals at which they will be carried out. [40962/13]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 434 to 449, inclusive, together.

The objective of the national mapping exercise under the National Broadband Plan is to identify and map current and planned broadband services, both Basic and Next Generation Access (NGA). The process for participating in the mapping exercise has been published on my Department’s website (www.dcenr.ie/nbpmapping) and notified to all undertakings authorised by ComReg. Information has been sought from participating operators in respect of current coverage as well as investments planned up to July 2016 and beyond, where appropriate.

Mapping data has been submitted to my Department by a total of 23 operators and the process of analysing the data and supporting information is now underway. The mapping data will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, having regard to the EU State Aid Guidelines. If a provider does not submit coverage data it will not be possible to estimate coverage for that operator. No decision has yet been taken as to the format of the finalised map in terms of boundary areas or otherwise, nor has any decision been taken with respect to field testing.

Work on the fine detail of classifying the criteria for current and planned Basic and NGA coverage for each of the different technology platforms is on-going in my Department. Accordingly, it is not possible at this stage to address many of the detailed questions raised by the Deputy.

It is my intention to publish the map showing existing and planned Basic and NGA broadband coverage early next year, including details of the criteria used, along with the Government’s proposals for a State-led intervention to roll out high speed broadband across the country. This process will enable account to be taken of any new information regarding operators’ plans and will also enable account to be taken of any response from members of the public.

The mapping software currently being used for the purpose of reviewing data submitted by the participating operators is ArcGIS Desktop. As the project is at an early stage, the full range of software has not been selected. Questions regarding the obligations that might be placed on any contractor who might be appointed in connection with the National Broadband Plan are premature as the detailed scope of the intervention has not yet been decided.

Top
Share