In reply to Question No. 554 of 7 July last, I confirmed that, based on my Department's current intervention map, the townland of Ballintubber in County Mayo is included in the NBP intervention area. Yesterday, I published for public consultation the Government's draft Intervention Strategy which sets out how we propose to ensure the provision of high-speed broadband to premises in the intervention area. This consultation runs until 14 September next. The draft Intervention Strategy and associated expert reports are now available on www.broadband.gov.ie
The Strategy sets out clearly that I expect 85% of the premises in Ireland will have access to high-speed broadband in 2018, increasing to 100% by 2020.
In terms of the precise timing of when any particular area can expect to be covered, the prospective bidder or bidders for the NBP contract are experts in network roll-out and each will bring different network architectures and technologies to bear on the project which will be capable of delivering the network in different ways. It is considered that they will be best placed to determine the sequencing of the network deployment to maximise efficiencies during network build. The strategy proposes, however, that the Department will engage with the winning bidder or bidders on the optimum roll-out strategy, having regard to business and consumer needs, areas of particularly poor service and areas of strong demand. These factors will need to be balanced against the most efficient network roll-out and will be agreed during the procurement process.
