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National Broadband Plan

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 November 2018

Wednesday, 7 November 2018

Questions (145, 146, 147)

Gerry Adams

Question:

145. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the revised target deployment schedule for the national broadband plan will be published; and when black spots in County Louth can expect to have access to adequate broadband services. [46032/18]

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Gerry Adams

Question:

146. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to undertake public information campaigns or to provide updates to persons living in black spot areas in County Louth and other counties affected regarding the future of the national broadband plan. [46033/18]

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Gerry Adams

Question:

147. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the audit commissioned from a person (details supplied) on the integrity of the procurement process regarding the national broadband plan will conclude; and if the findings of the audit will be published. [46034/18]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 145 to 147, inclusive, together.

In April 2017 my Department 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 National Broadband Plan.

The Map is colour coded and searchable by address/eircode:

- The AMBER areas represent the target areas for the proposed State led Intervention under the NBP and are the subject of an ongoing procurement process. 

- The BLUE areas represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services. 

- The LIGHT BLUE areas represent eir's commercial rural deployment plans to roll-out high speed broadband to 300,000 premises as part of a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017.

There are nearly 61,000 premises in Louth. Some 8,500 (14%) fall within the AMBER area and will be served under the State led Intervention. Nearly 52,000 (85%) of premises are in a BLUE area and are or will be served by commercial providers, while approximately 500 (1%) are LIGHT BLUE and fall to be served by eir's planned rural deployment.

The above is based on data for Q3 2018. This data is to be published on my Department’s website shortly.

Information on categories of specific premises can be accessed on my Department’s website, www.broadband.gov.ie, by entering the relevant eircode into the High Speed Broadband Map.  For those premises who fall within eir's commercial deployment to 300,000 premises further detail is provided on its website www.fibrerollout.ie.  

The procurement process to appoint a bidder for the State intervention network is now at the final stage, with evaluation ongoing of the final tender submission received on 18 September. The Taoiseach has asked Mr. Peter Smyth, the independent process auditor to the NBP procurement to review the process. Mr. Smyth will submit a report to the Taoiseach and to me as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. This review is taking place in parallel with the evaluation being carried out by the Department’s procurement team on the final tender.

Under a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017, eir is in the process of passing 300,000 predominantly rural homes with high speed broadband. According to data for Q3 2018 submitted by eir to my Department the company has passed almost 210,000 premises nationwide as part of its ongoing deployment. This data is to be published on my Department’s website shortly.

For those premises currently awaiting access to high speed broadband, practical initiatives will continue to be addressed through the work of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce to address obstacles and improve connectivity.  Under the 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.

To address mobile phone blackspots, officials in my Department and in the Department of Rural and Community Development are actively engaged with local authorities and mobile phone operators to identify priority blackspots and take action to resolve this issue. 

To identify the areas across the country lacking adequate mobile phone coverage, both Departments have worked with a pilot group of local authorities to identify the issues associated with mapping local blackspots. This pilot exercise has been completed, with all local authorities now having been asked to map local blackspots and identify infrastructure that could potentially be used to provide additional coverage on an economic basis. This exercise is ongoing. The blackspot information received so far is providing useful and usable data regarding poor coverage in many rural areas and along national and regional roads.

Various other initiatives are under way to address mobile coverage blackspots:

- Both Departments have worked to achieve a greater consensus around site selection for telecoms infrastructure and therefore improve mobile phone coverage.

- A focus group was established to provide guidance with respect to categories of location where high quality reliable mobile coverage should be made available as a priority. The report of the focus group was published on my Department’s website on 31 August 2018. It is anticipated that the output of the focus group should influence the actions of the mobile network operators in their work to reduce mobile phone blackspots. It will also inform future policy in my Department with regards to priorities for mobile phone services.

- A working group has been established with the remit of investigating the feasibility of developing standardised policy for accessing and utilising State and publicly owned assets for the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure.

- ComReg is delivering a composite national coverage map, which will, in tandem with its work on handset testing and activities to raise consumer awareness, allow people across Ireland to optimise the services available to them.

- Following a consultation process ComReg has developed a licensing scheme which will enable households and businesses to use mobile phone repeaters to boost signals into their premises and bring immediate improvements in mobile coverage

- All of these initiatives should assist in enhancing the quality of mobile phone and data services, particularly in rural areas.

Further information on the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce is available on my Department’s website, www.broadband.gov.ie.

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