Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2017
1434. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding fibre broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37388/17]
View answer1435. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of a fibre optic installation in an area (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37414/17]
View answer1437. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a company (details supplied) plans to install broadband in an area (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37518/17]
View answer1448. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will extend the provision of broadband to a house (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37861/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1434, 1435, 1437 and 1448 together.
The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) will ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location. The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector so that to date approximately 1.5m or 65% of the 2.3m premises in Ireland can get high speed broadband of a minimum of 30 Megabits per second and this footprint is expanding.
In April I published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. This map shows the areas targeted by commercial operators to provide high-speed broadband services and the areas that will be included in the State Intervention Area. The Map is searchable by eircode.
- The BLUE areas on the Map represent those areas where commercial telecommunications providers are either currently delivering, or have indicated plans to deliver high-speed broadband services,
- The AMBER areas on the Map represent the areas that will require State Intervention and are the subject of a procurement process.
Also in April, eir signed a agreement with me committing them to follow through on their commercial plans to provide new high speed broadband infrastructure to 300,000 premises in rural areas. eir has committed to doing this work over a 90 week period with an average of 500 premises passed per day.
Quarterly updates on progress of the eir 300k rollout are published on my Department’s website. The Quarter 2 2017 figures have been verified by my Department and the eir rollout is in line with the Commitment Agreement.
The position in relation to the areas referred to by the Deputies is set out below.
|
Towland |
County |
Number of premises |
AMBER premises State led Intervention area |
BLUE premises commercial operators |
Light BLUE planned rural deployment by eir |
|
Knocktaggle |
Kerry |
51 |
10 |
9 |
32
|
|
Rockfield |
Kerry |
29 |
1 |
2 |
26
|
|
Annaghilymore |
Kerry |
58 |
55 (including eircodes referenced in the Question) |
|
3 |
A full set of county statistics are available at www.broadband.gov.ie. Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available from eir at http://fibrerollout.ie/eircode-lookup/.
I would encourage members of the general public who are in a BLUE area but who cannot access a high speed broadband service from at least one operator at present to contact my Department at broadband@dccae.gov.ie, quoting their contact details, eircode, query details, details of the operators they have contacted and conveying their permission for my Department to forward such details to the participating operators. My Department is working with operators to ensure that all such locations will be in receipt of high-speed broadband as soon as possible.
My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network within the State intervention area. That procurement process is now at an advanced stage, with “Detailed Solutions” to be submitted by bidders later this month.
To improve both mobile and broadband services in rural Ireland in advance of the rollout of the high-speed broadband network to be built in the State intervention area, I established a task force to identify immediate solutions to mobile phone and broadband coverage deficits and investigate how better services could be provided to consumers. These solutions will enhance the existing services prior to the full build and rollout of the network planned under the National Broadband Plan State intervention
