Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 May 2015
607. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he expects high speed fibre broadband will be extended to a townland (details supplied) in County Meath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18212/15]
View answerThe National Broadband Plan is delivering high speed broadband to every home and business in Ireland regardless of its location. This is being achieved through a partnership between Government and commercial telecommunications companies.
The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5 billion in network upgrades and enhanced services with approximately 1.6 million of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland expected to have access to commercial high speed broadband services over the next two years. These very significant investments represent a step-change in the quality of broadband services available.
Last November I published a national high speed coverage map for 2016. This map is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. The map shows Ireland with two colours, BLUE and AMBER.
The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers plan to deliver high speed broadband services by end 2016.
The AMBER area on the map shows the target areas for the State intervention and includes Baytown, Co Meath. All premises within the AMBER areas will be included in the State's intervention.
More generally I can confirm that next generation broadband services have been rolled out to over 28,200 premises to date in Meath, with a further 23,000 expected to be served over the next 18 months. The remaining 31,000 premises in County Meath, including premises in Baytown are the target for the proposed State intervention under the National Broadband Plan.
Intensive design and planning work is underway in my Department to produce a detailed intervention strategy for the AMBER area. In accordance with EU State Aid guidelines, the procurement process will be technology neutral, I intend to launch a consultation on the Intervention Strategy under the National Broadband Plan this summer with a view to moving to formal procurement towards the end of 2015 in order to select a preferred bidder or bidders.
I anticipate that the first homes and businesses will be connected in 2016 and connections will continue thereafter, with the intention of having all premises connected within a 5 year period.
This complex and ambitious project is a key priority for Government and aims to conclusively address current broadband connectivity challenges in Ireland.
