Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 October 2016
559. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when fibre broadband will be rolled out in Dundrum and Knockavilla, County Tipperary, and residents will have access to a high-speed broadband connection. [29618/16]
View answer560. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when fibre broadband will be rolled out in Coolbaun, Puckane and Dromineer, County Tipperary, and residents will have access to a high-speed broadband connection. [29619/16]
View answer561. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when fibre broadband will be rolled out in Emly, County Tipperary, and residents will have access to a high-speed broadband connection. [29620/16]
View answer562. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when fibre broadband will be rolled out in Glengoole, County Tipperary, and residents will have access to a high-speed broadband connection. [29621/16]
View answer563. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when fibre broadband will be rolled out in Toomyvara, County Tipperary, and residents will have access to a high-speed broadband connection. [29623/16]
View answer564. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when fibre broadband will be rolled out in Bansha, County Tipperary, and residents will have access to a high-speed broadband connection. [29634/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 559 to 564, inclusive, together.
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 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 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 County Tipperary. 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.
Over 750,000 premises are within the State intervention area. This includes over 41,000 premises in County Tipperary.
The following table details percentage of premises to be covered by the State Intervention and through commercial investment in the areas identified by the Deputy.
|
Name |
Location |
Townland |
% Premises within the NBP Intervention Area |
% Premises within Commercial Operator’s Area |
|
Knockavilla |
Knockavilla |
100% |
|
|
|
Dundrum |
Dundrum |
83% |
17% |
|
|
Bansha |
Bansha West |
10% |
90% |
|
|
Toomyvara |
Coolkereen |
100% |
|
|
|
Glengoole North |
100% |
|
||
|
Glengoole area |
Glengoole South |
100% |
|
|
|
Emly |
Emly |
1% |
99% |
|
|
Tipperary |
Coolbawn |
Coolbaun |
100% |
|
|
|
Puckaun |
Lodge |
100% |
|
|
|
Dromineer |
Dromineer |
100% |
|
The Department is now in a formal procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network to the over 750,000 premises in Ireland, covering 100,000km of road network and 96% of the land area of Ireland. Since bidders were invited to participate in dialogue with the Department, there have been approximately 150 hours of meetings, with considerable more interaction to follow over the coming months.
Earlier this year, before I came into office, the Department announced that it would be June 2017 before contract(s) were awarded under the NBP. The bidders in the process have recently indicated that they may need more time to conclude the procurement process. The timing of each stage of the procurement continues to be dependent on a range of factors including the complexities that may be encountered by the procurement team, and bidders, during the procurement process. Bidders need adequate time to prepare detailed proposals and their final formal bids and get the relevant shareholder and funding approvals at key stages of the process. It is also important to ensure that risks in this multi-million euro procurement are carefully managed. I do not propose to comment any further at this juncture, given the sensitivity of discussions in the procurement process. I can assure the Deputy, however, that the procurement process is being intensively managed, to ensure an outcome that delivers a future-proofed network that serves homes and businesses across Ireland, for at least 25 years.
As part of the Department's extensive stakeholder consultations in 2015, telecommunications service providers indicated that it could take 3-5 years to rollout a network of the scale envisaged under the NBP. It is however open to bidder(s) to suggest more aggressive timescales as part of their bids. 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.
