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Broadband Service Provision

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 April 2019

Thursday, 11 April 2019

Questions (159)

Alan Kelly

Question:

159. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when broadband will be brought to Kilcommon, Thurles, County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17060/19]

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Written answers

In April 2017 my Department published an updated version of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map. This is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. The 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 area represents the parts of the country where commercial operators have no plans to build high speed broadband networks. Premises in the AMBER area will be provided with high Speed Broadband through a State Intervention.

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

- The LIGHT BLUE area represents 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 23 premises in Kilcommon. 91% (21) fall within the AMBER area and will be served under the State led Intervention, while 9% (2) of premises are in a BLUE area and are, or will be, served by commercial providers.

The procurement process to appoint a bidder for the State intervention network is now at the final stage. I will bring a recommendation to Government in the coming weeks.

In the event any premises categorised as BLUE in Kilcommon are experiencing difficulty in obtaining a high speed broadband service, I advise they contact the NBP customer service team at broadband@dccae.gov.ie directly, providing their name, phone number, email address and Eircode, as well as details of any issues they are experiencing getting connected.

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 Local Authority Broadband Officers is continuing. 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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