Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 May 2016
1085. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the name of the commercial provider who will begin the roll-out of high-speed broadband for Ashmount, Silversprings and Tivoli in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9369/16]
View answerThe National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to deliver high speed services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to the delivery of the NBP as a matter of priority.
It is expected that 70% of all premises in Ireland will receive high speed services from the commercial telecommunications market. The remaining 30% (over 750,000 premises) are the focus of a major State procurement, which formally commenced in December 2015 with the publication of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire ( 'PQQ') and Project Information Memorandum.
The High Speed Broadband Map 2020, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie shows the extent of the State Intervention area, which is the subject of procurement. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services and includes the areas of Silversprings and Tivoli, County Cork. The Department continues to monitor the commercial deployment plans in the BLUE area to ensure that all of the 1.6m premises, where commercial operators have committed to providing services will have access to High Speed Broadband of at least 30mbps.
High speed services that are rolled out in BLUE areas are done so on a commercial basis by telecommunications operators. Due to confidentiality agreements with the operators who supplied coverage data for the NBP mapping exercise, it is not possible to provide individuals with specific operator details in their areas. I can however advise that three operators satisfied our requirements for inclusion on the High Speed Broadband map, those operators being Eir, Virgin Media and Magnet. I would advise individuals to regularly check with operators as to when these services will be available.
The areas marked AMBER on the High Speed Broadband Map, which includes the area of Ashmount, Co. Cork, represent the target areas for the State Intervention. Members of the public can see whether their individual premise is in the BLUE or AMBER area by inserting their Eircode, and/ or address, or scrolling through the map.
In terms of the procurement for the State intervention, five responses have been received from prospective bidders to this stage of the competitive procurement process by the deadline of 31 March 2016. The five responses are being assessed in line with the criteria set down by the Department with a view to shortlisted qualified bidders proceeding to the next stage of procurement.
The second stage in the procurement process will be a formal invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to shortlisted bidders. I expect that my Department will move to this stage in the next month. The third stage of the procurement process involves the issue of final tender documentation, which dialogue process. Following the submission of final tenders by bidders, a winning bidder(s) will be selected for the contract which will comprise one or two lots as set out in the Intervention Strategy document. The Department will then enter into formal contract negotiations with the winning bidder(s). It is expected that a contract will be awarded by June 2017.
Rollout will commence once the contract is in place. Based on industry consultations, it is expected that 85% of all premises in Ireland will have access to high speed broadband within 2 years after the rollout commences, with 100% being connected within 5 years or sooner.
As part of the competitive process, the Department will engage with winning bidder(s) on the best rollout strategy, in order to target areas of particularly poor service, business needs and / or high demand. This will need to be balanced with the most efficient network rollout plan.
I am in discussion at present with Minister Heather Humphreys on the detailed arrangements to give effect to commitments in the Programme for a Partnership Government regarding her Department’s role in relation to the rollout phase of the National Broadband Plan. It is envisaged that the role will include leading on the establishment of county or regional broadband taskforces and working with local authorities, Local Enterprise Offices, LEADER Groups and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once a contract(s) has been awarded.
