Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 May 2020
726. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when homes and businesses in County Limerick with inadequate broadband will receive an improvement in service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7506/20]
View answerThe government is committed to delivering high speed broadband to every home, farm, business and school in Ireland.
The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie, shows the areas in Limerick which will be included in the National Broadband Plan (NBP) as well as areas targeted by commercial operators. The Map is colour coded and searchable by address and Eircode.
- Premises in the AMBER area of Limerick will be provided with high speed broadband through the State led Intervention, the contract for which was signed in November last with National Broadband Ireland (NBI).
- 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, including Limerick, as part of a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017.
The NBP network will offer users a high speed broadband service with a minimum download speed of 150Mbps from the outset. By the end of next year, NBI plans to pass in the region of 115,000 premises, with 70,000 - 100,000 passed each year thereafter until rollout is completed. All counties will see premises passed in the first 2 years and over 90% of premises in the State will have access to high speed broadband within the next four years.
Design work is being undertaken in targeted townlands in a number of counties, including Limerick. Over 22,000 premises have been surveyed to date and this work is continuing. Further information on deployment activities associated with the roll out can be found on the NBI website www.nbi.ie.
To support remote working and connected communities, approximately 300 Broadband Connections Points (BCPs) were identified by Local Authorities to be connected to high speed broadband this year. This will assist communities to quickly get free public access to high speed broadband in advance of the main NBP deployment. The planned BCP locations, including schools, library hubs, local sports facilities and other public places are available to view on the High Speed Broadband Map on the Department’s website www.broadband.gov.ie. The BCP delivery project is well underway and surveying of the BCP locations is progressing which will facilitate detailed design and installation. BCP locations are subject to change and a number of the premises initially identified are in the process of being replaced with alternative locations. The remaining BCPs remain on track for delivery by the end of 2020.
The BCPs in identified public places will leverage the high speed broadband connection through a range of measures and initiatives, for example providing free public Wi-Fi, some will also have hot-desks, and some will be digital hub business centres where digital training, business information events and other SME supports are organised.
