Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 June 2016
253. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the stage the mapping process is at for rural broadband for County Westmeath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18973/16]
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. This is being achieved through private investment by commercial telecommunications companies and through a State intervention in areas where commercial investment is not forthcoming.
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 previously indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services. The Department continues to monitor commercial operator deployment plans of high speed broadband in the BLUE area. In March /April of this year the Department issued a detailed questionnaire to those operators whose coverage is included in the BLUE area on the High Speed Broadband Map. Submissions received in response to the questionnaire are currently being analysed and I expect that a key component of this analysis will be concluded shortly. In the event that commercial plans do not materialise as anticipated in the BLUE area or where no alternative operator is present, the Department has reserved the right to include these premises as part of the State Intervention.
The areas marked AMBER on the High Speed Broadband Map represent the target areas for the State Intervention.
The map provides information on a county by county basis with a breakdown of coverage across the townlands in every county including County Westmeath.
The Map is a critical aspect of EU State Aid compliance and the mapping process remains open, in accordance with terms that have been published on the Department's website (www.broadband.gov.ie) so as to ensure that existing plans are realised and that any new developments can be managed.
The current county breakdown for the National Broadband Plan Intervention in Co. Westmeath is set out in the table, with the percentage of premises to be covered by the Intervention and through commercial investment also listed.
|
County Name |
Total Number of County Townlands* |
Number of Premises Covered by National Broadband Plan Intervention |
% Premises within the NBP Intervention Area |
% Premises within Commercial Operators' Area |
|
Westmeath |
1346 |
17,814 |
40% |
60% |
Over 750,000 premises are the focus for the procurement process, which formally commenced in December 2015 with the publication of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire ('PQQ') and Project Information Memorandum. Five responses were received from prospective bidders to this stage of the competitive procurement process by the deadline of 31 March 2016.
The second stage in the procurement process will be a formal invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to qualifying bidders. I expect that my Department will move to this stage over the coming weeks. 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 NBP Intervention Strategy. The Department will then enter into formal contract negotiations with the winning bidder(s). It is expected that contract(s) will be awarded by June 2017.
As part of the competitive process, the Department will engage with winning bidder(s) on the best roll-out 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. A prioritisation programme will be put in place in this regard, in consultation with the Minister for Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht. A detailed rollout plan for the network will be published once contract(s) are in place.
The Programme for a Partnership Government commits also to measures to assist in the rollout of the network once a contract is awarded In this regard, Minister Humphreys is leading on the establishment of county or regional broadband taskforces, 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.
