Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 May 2016
1087. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the measures he is taking to ensure that fibre broadband is available throughout north County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9639/16]
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.
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 follows the 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.
In preparation for the procurement stage of the process my Department investigated how different technical solutions could be used to deliver high speed broadband. In line with EU State Aid rules, the process must be "technology neutral" and it is not therefore possible to specify what technology should be used to build the network. As part of the procurement process bidders will be asked to propose solutions which meet the NBP service requirements. It is recognised however, that a significant fibre build will be required, regardless of what technology is used to provide services to individual premises. Once the successful bidder or bidders is chosen the technology to be deployed will be made clear.
A High Speed Broadband Map 2020, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie shows areas marked BLUE which represents the areas commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband and areas marked AMBER which represent the target areas for the proposed State intervention.
The areas marked BLUE, which includes the majority of North County Dublin, represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services. The Department continues to monitor the commercial deployment plans in the BLUE area to ensure that all premises, where commercial operators have committed to providing services will have access to High Speed Broadband of at least 30mbps. Members of the public can see whether their individual premises is in the BLUE or AMBER area by inserting their Eircode, and/or address, or scrolling through the map.
The Intervention Strategy sets out a detailed service specification including a requirement that the State-funded network must be capable of delivering high-quality, high speed broadband of at least 30mbps download and 6mbps upload. It must also be capable of catering for higher performance in the future so as to keep pace with consumer demand. The intention is to build out the network in the AMBER area as quickly as possible.
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.
