Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 September 2015
607. Deputy Eamonn Maloney asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans for the provision of broadband services at a location (details supplied) in Dublin 22; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33271/15]
View answerThe National Broadband Plan (NBP) is a Government initiative which aims to deliver high speed broadband to every citizen and business in Ireland. This is being achieved through a combination of accelerated commercial investment by telecoms operators, and a proposed State intervention to provide high speed broadband to those parts of the country where the commercial sector will not invest.
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 and was developed based on the most up to date information available at the time of publication. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services by the end of 2016.
The areas marked AMBER represent those areas where the State intends to intervene to ensure those areas will have access to high speed broadband services. According to this map 98% of premises in the townland of Brownsbarn will be covered by commercial investment by the end of 2016 with the remaining 2% of premises being included in the proposed NBP intervention.
My Department is currently in the process of updating the Map, taking into consideration any new information received or operator announcements made of any new plans. We expect to publish an updated version of the Map before the end of this year.
I would encourage all members of the public to consult my Department's map as well as the publicly available information being provided on their websites by the various commercial operators in order to establish the precise status of their individual premises.
The NBP proposed Intervention Strategy document, which was published on 15 July last, sets out a series of detailed proposals by Government in respect of the proposed State intervention. It sets out the key elements of the intervention - what services are proposed and how they will be delivered. It outlines various aspects of the proposed intervention including the type of network envisaged, the minimum speeds being demanded, the length of the contract for services, and whether the network should be public or privately owned.
The Government is determined to ensure that the network is built out as quickly as possible and engagement with industry stakeholders has indicated that this could be achieved within 3-5 years of the contract award.
In this context, the NBP proposes that through the combination of commercial investment and State intervention, 85% of addresses in Ireland will have access to high speed services by 2018 with all addresses passed by 2020.
