Skip to main content
Normal View

Broadband Service Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 October 2016

Tuesday, 11 October 2016

Questions (552)

David Cullinane

Question:

552. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to roll out dark fibre broadband in the south east; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29502/16]

View answer

Written answers

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to deliver high speed services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. The Programme for 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 formal procurement process for the State Intervention commenced in December 2015.

The procurement process aims to identify an entity or entities to build, rollout, operate and deliver high speed broadband of at least 30 Mbps upload and 6 Mbps download speeds to all premises within the intervention area.  The network envisaged will be a wholesale, open access network and it is intended that dark fibre services will be a part the product set of the network that will be built.  This will therefore include dark fibre in the southeast.

The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie, shows the extent of the State Intervention area:

- 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 areas marked AMBER on the High Speed Broadband Map represent the target areas for the State Intervention which are the subject of the current procurement process.

The map provides information on a county by county basis with a breakdown of coverage across the townlands in every county including the Southeast comprising the counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford. Individuals can check whether their premises is in a BLUE or an AMBER area by scrolling through the map online or entering their Eircode. The Department also has a dedicated mailbox and anyone with a query in relation to the Map should email the Department, quoting their Eircode, to broadband@dcenr.gov.ie.

The Department is now in a formal procurement process to select a company or companies to roll-out a new high speed broadband network(s) in the Intervention area which extends to over 750,000 premises in Ireland, covering 100,000km of road network and 96% of the land area of Ireland.

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. A prioritisation programme will be put in place in this regard, in consultation with the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. A detailed rollout plan for the network will be published once contract(s) are in place.

The Programme for Government also commits 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 two regional action groups, working with Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Offices and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once a contract(s) has been awarded.

 In the meantime, my Department continues to liaise closely with industry and relevant other Departments and agencies to assist in the commercial deployment of telecommunications networks. The commercial telecommunications sector has invested over €2bn in upgrading and modernising networks which support the provision of high speed broadband and mobile telecoms services. These investments will further improve the coverage and quality of broadband and mobile voice and data services throughout the country.

In line with commitments in the Programme for Government I established a Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce with my colleague Minister Humphreys in July 2016. The Taskforce will recommend practical actions that can be taken in the short-term to improve mobile phone and broadband access in Ireland, working with Government Departments, Local Authorities, ComReg, State Agencies, the telecoms industry and other key stakeholders. The work of the taskforce will also assist Local Authorities in preparing for the rollout of the new NBP network once contract(s) are in place. I expect that Minister Humphreys and I will bring proposals to Government by the end of 2016, on foot of the Taskforce's report.

Top
Share