Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2015
102. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the status of the national broadband plan; the level of engagement between his Department and private telecommunications operators with regard to those companies' plans for broadband, particularly in rural locations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31757/15]
View answerThe Minister published the draft Intervention Strategy for public consultation on 15 July 2015 and the draft strategy and relevant expert reports are available on the NBP website www.broadband.gov.ie. This public consultation closes on the 25th of this month. Following the consultation process, the Minister plans to move to formal procurement phase towards the end of this year in order to select a preferred bidder or bidders. The physical build of the network is expected to begin in late 2016, and it will take 3-5 years to fully complete – depending on the details of the bid or bids selected.
This complex national infrastructure project will definitively address the long-standing challenge of deploying a resilient and high-quality broadband network, particularly in rural parts of Ireland.
An intrinsic part of the Department's approach to planning and developing the NBP strategy has been to engage with all stakeholders and, in particular, with industry. This engagement has enabled the production of the national high speed broadband coverage map in November last which is currently being updated, again in close collaboration with industry.
Details of meetings with industry and of site visits to particular trials or projects being run by individual operators are provided in the Department's monthly NBP update which is available on the Department's website and which is emailed to all Oireachtas members.
Departmental officials will continue to liaise closely with the commercial operators until such time as the project moves to formal procurement phase.
