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National Broadband Plan

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 November 2019

Thursday, 7 November 2019

Questions (185, 186)

Jack Chambers

Question:

185. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has received state aid approval from the European Commission further to mapping queries on the national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45920/19]

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Jack Chambers

Question:

186. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the financial risk to the State in the event that the national broadband plan is found not to be compatible with state aid rules by the European Commission following a mapping consultation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45921/19]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 185 and 186 together.

As a State intervention, the NBP must comply with the requirements of the European Commission’s Guidelines on the application of the State aid rules on broadband. The Guidelines require, amongst other things, that Member States carry out a detailed mapping exercise to identify as far as reasonably possible those areas where intervention is required.

Since July 2013, the Department has engaged in an extensive process of mapping broadband availability in Ireland in order to identify premises requiring State intervention. The mapping exercise has been supported by a number of public consultations which have elicited significant response from industry and the public. The most significant changes to the NBP Map took place in 2017. The Department added a further 84,500 premises to the Intervention Area where commercial investment plans previously provided to the Department had failed to materialise. The update also removed 300,000 premises from the intervention area on the basis of what was then a planned infrastructure build, that eir entered into a Commitment Agreement in respect of. An updated NBP Map was then published in April 2017 encompassing 540,000 premises in the intervention area for the purposes of the NBP procurement.

A further consultation on the NBP Map was held in January 2018. Responses from industry were limited and the NBP Map remained unchanged for the purposes of Final Tender in September 2018.

My Department recently conducted a public consultation to close the ongoing mapping exercise, seeking submissions from operators who wish to have their existing high speed broadband networks, or who have developed plans to invest in high speed broadband networks over the next 7 years, to be included on the Department’s High Speed Broadband Map. That consultation was extended twice at the request of operators, resulting in a total nine week period for submissions and it closed on 30th September 2019.

As part of the consultation, over 180 submissions were received from a variety of stakeholders, including 30 from large and small commercial telecommunications operators, with the remainder from local authority broadband officers and members of the public.

Operator submissions are assessed against the Department’s published assessment criteria. Operators submitting planned investments are required to sign a declaration that they will enter into a Commitment Agreement with the Department if their plans satisfy the assessment criteria and are accepted by the Department as being concrete and credible.

The findings of the consultation, which will be available in the coming weeks, will ensure that the State Intervention Area is up to date and that it reflects commercial operators’ plans and the responses from householders and businesses, in advance of a contract being signed later this year. This will be an important element in concluding the State Aid approval process with the European Commission

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