I propose to take Questions Nos. 629 and 630 together.
The Digital Agenda for Europe sets a broadband target of 30Mbps for all Europeans by 2020, with at least 50% of EU households subscribing to broadband above 100Mbps by 2020. The Government’s National Broadband Plan, which I published in August 2012, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses. This will be achieved by providing:
- a policy and regulatory framework that assists in accelerating and incentivising commercial investment, and
- a State-led investment for areas where it is not commercial for the market to invest.
Since the publication of the Plan, investments by the commercial sector are underway in both fixed line and wireless high speed broadband services. The State can only intervene to ensure access to broadband services in areas where the competitive market fails to deliver such services. In order to progress the State-led investment for areas where it is not commercial for the market to invest, a full procurement process must be designed and EU State Aids approval must be obtained.
The revised EU State Aid guidelines for next generation access envisage that any State intervention would:
- deliver services reliably at a very high speed per subscriber through optical (or equivalent technology) backhaul sufficiently close to user premises to guarantee the actual delivery of the very high speed;
- support a variety of advanced digital services; and
- have substantially higher upload speeds (compared to basic broadband networks).
These guidelines, which were published in January 2013, will critically inform the nature of the State intervention in the provision of high speed broadband as envisaged in the National Broadband Plan.
My Department is engaged in a comprehensive mapping exercise of the current and anticipated investment by the commercial sector, the results of which will inform the precise areas that need to be targeted in the State-led investment. In addition, intensive technical, financial and legal preparations, including stakeholder engagement, are ongoing. The procurement process for the approved intervention will be carried out in accordance with EU and Irish procurement rules and it is expected that it will be launched in 2014.
Through the implementation of the National Broadband Plan, I am committed to ensuring that all parts of Ireland have access to high speed broadband, with a view to ensuring that all citizens and businesses can participate fully in, and maximise the benefits of, a digitally enabled economy and society.
