Robert Troy
Question:458. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when all areas will receive high quality broadband in view of the decision by the EIB to refinance the NBP. [17514/18]
View answerTuesday, 24 April 2018
Questions (458)
Written answers
The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to 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. Today, almost 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. Since this Government came into office almost 400,000 additional premises have access to high speed broadband. This will increase to nearly 8 out of 10 premises by the end of this year and by 2020, 9 out of 10 premises will have access to a high speed broadband connection. This is being achieved via a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention.
On 12 April 2018, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced it had allocated finance of €500 million to the roll-out of a high speed broadband network for the National Broadband Plan. EIB financing is only offered to projects which contribute to EU Economic policy objectives, such as the improvement of EU transport and telecommunications infrastructure and which also meet the EIB’s requirements for overall quality and soundness. I welcome the announcement from the EIB as an endorsement of the NBP State led intervention. The allocation of €500m in EU financing from the EIB provides the project with the potential to access reliable and affordable finance from a recognised European financial institution under the Investment Plan for Europe.
In April 2017 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 under the NBP.
My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area. That procurement process is now in its final stages. The Department will engage with the bidder to ensure the most efficient deployment as part of the contract.
In April 2017, I signed a Commitment Agreement with eir in relation to its plans to provide high speed broadband to 300,000 premises in rural areas on a commercial basis. eir has committed to completing the roll-out by the end of this year. Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available at http://fibrerollout.ie. A copy of the Commitment Agreement is available on my Department’s website www.dccae.gov.ie.
Quarterly updates on eir's rural deployment are published on this website. eir has passed a total of 121,000 premises as of December 2017. Figures for Q1 2018 are expected to be published in May.
Prior to the roll-out of the NBP State led intervention, practical initiatives will continue to be addressed through the work of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce to address obstacles and improve connectivity in respect of existing and future mobile phone and broadband services.
Under this Taskforce, engagement between telecommunications operators and local authorities through the Broadband Officers is continuing to strengthen. These Broadband Officers are acting as single points of contact in local authorities for their communities. The appointment of these officers is already reaping rewards in terms of ensuring a much greater degree of consistency in engagements with operators and clearing obstacles to developing infrastructure. There is a link to a list of these local Broadband Officers on my Department's website.