Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 April 2016
496. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources with regard to his broadband map, if he will confirm that blue areas that are due to receive 30 Mbps by end of 2016 via commercial operators will do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7572/16]
View answer497. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to measure broadband provision in rural Ireland within either the blue or amber areas of the national broadband plan; the measurement which would be provided; the areas in which this measurement will take place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7573/16]
View answer498. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources with regard to the national broadband plan map, where there are infill areas of provision of less than 30 Mbps within a blue area, the timeframe for commercial operators to provide 30 Mbps to the users; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7574/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 496 to 498, inclusive, together.
The Government’s 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 has invested over €2 billion in network upgrades and enhanced services in the last four years, and is continuing to invest. These very significant investments represent a step change in the quality of broadband services available.
The EU State Aid Guidelines for Broadband require Member States to thoroughly evaluate any commercial plans so as to ensure that State Aid is confined to those areas where commercial investment in high speed broadband services is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future.
The Department has had extensive engagement with operators to identify those areas where there are concrete plans to roll out high speed broadband on a commercial basis in line with EU Sate Aid Guidelines for broadband. In October 2015 the Department published the process used for assessing commercial high speed broadband investment plans. Plans received from commercial operators are assessed under technical, deployment and financial criteria, in line with the EU State Aid requirements. This resulted in the publication of the High Speed Broadband Map 2020 in December 2015. No additional commercial plans have been submitted since the 2020 map was launched in December 2015.
The Map shows, based on the plans of commercial operators, that there are some 1.6m premises in the BLUE area, representing 70% of the total premises in Ireland. The remaining 30%, which comprise some 757,000 premises are in the AMBER area and are expected to be served by the State Intervention. The Department is monitoring the commercial rollout plans of operators on an ongoing basis to ensure that all of the 1.6m premises will have access to High Speed Broadband of at least 30Mbps.
The Department has also published a process for managing the high speed broadband map which can be accessed at:
http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/communications/SiteCollectionDocuments/Broadband/Updated%20Expert%20reports/Managing%20IA%20Map%20-%20Consultation%20Paper%20FINAL%2021-12-15.pdf.
