Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 1 July 2015
276. Deputy Frank Feighan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans for Boyle, County Roscommon in relation to the badly needed broadband upgrade for the town and its environs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26601/15]
View answerThe National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State led intervention in areas where commercial services will not be provided.
The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5 billion in network upgrades. 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 that will have access to commercial high speed broadband services and include the town of Boyle Co Roscommon. The AMBER areas on the map show the target areas where the State will be obliged to intervene to ensure the availability of high speed broadband services.
The map allows all members of the public, be they business or residential, to see whether their premises or home will have access to commercial high speed broadband services or whether they will be included in the Government's proposed intervention. It also provides detailed information on over 50,000 townlands throughout the entire country including County Roscommon.
According to the publicly available information on eircom's website (www.eircom.net) Boyle has already seen a number of upgrades under the company's e-fibre investment programme, with one further upgrade nearing completion. Where parts of the town or its environs are not covered by commercial high speed services, these will be the target for the State's intervention.
