Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 October 2018
552. Deputy Stephen S. Donnelly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of premises connected to and premises passed with high speed broadband, respectively, in each of the years 2011 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and the percentage of total premises this represents. [43847/18]
View answerThe 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 is being achieved through a combination of commercial investment and a State intervention.
Over the past 5 years, the NBP has driven commercial investment in the upgrade and expansion of networks to the tune of some €2.75 billion.
There are 2.3m premises in the country. In 2012 less than 700,000 (30%) of all premises had access to high speed broadband through commercial operators. When this Government came into office in 2016 1.2m (52%) had access to high speed broadband. Today 1.7m (74%) of premises can access this service.
My Department does not receive detailed information on connections to premises from industry, other than those related to eir’s ongoing commercial deployment. This is due to its obligations as part of a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017 to provide high speed broadband to some 300,000 premises. According to the latest figures supplied to my Department by the company, some 37,000 premises have been connected to the new network.
The Commission for Communications Regulation, Comreg, publishes a quarterly key data report on the telecommunications industry in Ireland. The Q2 2018 report contains information on connections which may be of interest to the Deputy: https://www.comreg.ie/publication/quarterly-key-data-report-q2-2018/
