Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2021
64. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the steps he is taking to address the situation of homes in rural areas that cannot and will not be serviced by private operators for broadband connection (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11512/21]
View answerThe National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led Intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) under a contract to roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the Intervention Area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in the over 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with 695 schools. The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie, shows the areas which will be included in the NBP State led intervention as well as areas targeted by commercial operators. The map is colour coded and searchable by address and Eircode. Premises in the AMBER area will be provided with high speed broadband through the State led Intervention. Commercial areas defined as BLUE on the NBP map are not included in the State led intervention area covered by the National Broadband Plan as commercial operators are already providing high speed broadband or have indicated future plans to do so. My Department defines high speed broadband as a connection with minimum speeds of 30Mbps download and 6Mbps upload. The activities of commercial operators delivering high speed broadband within BLUE areas are not planned or funded by the State and my Department has no statutory authority to intervene in that regard as they operate in a fully liberalised market regulated by ComReg as independent regulator.
Complaints about service provision are a matter between the consumer and the service provider in the first instance. There may also be a choice of operators offering this service in an area and it may help to check www.comreg.ie/compare/#/services or another cost comparison search engine.
In the event that, having exhausted the above options, a premises located in the BLUE area still cannot get high speed broadband from service providers in the area, they should contact my Department at broadband@decc.gov.ie with full details and the matter will be investigated by my officials. The NBP High Speed Broadband Map is dynamic. This means that the intervention area can be updated to reflect new commercial plans, or previous plans that have failed to materialise. This flexibility allows for an increase or decrease in the number of premises included in the State Intervention area.
