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Broadband Service Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 December 2018

Wednesday, 5 December 2018

Questions (270)

Thomas Byrne

Question:

270. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when broadband will be available in an area (details supplied). [51099/18]

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Written answers

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 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 rollout high speed broadband to 300,000 premises as part of a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017.

There are 17 premises in Ballymore. 15 (88%) fall within the AMBER area and will be served under the State led Intervention, while 2 (12%) are in a BLUE area and are or will be served by commercial providers.

Information on categories of specific premises can be accessed on the Department’s website, www.broadband.gov.ie, by entering the relevant Eircode into the High Speed Broadband Map. For those premises which 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.  My priority is to bring the procurement process to a fair and impartial conclusion as quickly as possible.  My Department will now conclude its assessment of the final tender submission received from the bidder on 18 September 2018 and I will bring a recommendation to Government in the coming weeks on how to proceed.

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 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.

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