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National Broadband Plan

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 September 2021

Thursday, 30 September 2021

Questions (151)

Neale Richmond

Question:

151. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of premises in each county connected under the National Broadband Plan since the roll-out commenced; the number that remain to be connected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47292/21]

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Written answers

The 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 some 699 schools.

Design work is complete or ongoing in target townlands across every county in Ireland with over 257,000 premises surveyed as of 17 September. This survey work is feeding into detailed designs for each deployment area and premises are now connected in Cork, Cavan, Galway and Monaghan. Retail Service Providers are actively selling on the NBI Network with almost 23,000 premises (across Cavan, Cork, Limerick, Monaghan and Galway) now available for order and pre-order through local broadband service providers

Further details are available on specific areas across the country through the NBI website which provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register their interest in being provided with deployment updates through its website, www.nbi.ie. Individuals who register with this facility will receive regular updates on progress by NBI on delivering the network and specific updates related to their own premises as works commence. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.

In addition to the challenges to the delivery of the NBP due to the Covid-19 pandemic, NBI has faced a range of other challenges due to the sheer scale and complexity of rolling out fibre to the home in a rural environment. These include significant tree trimming to ensure cable can be placed on overhead poles, remediation of ducting that has been in place for many decades, the co-ordination of hundreds of contracting crews and addressing the many issues arising week on week which could not have been foreseen until the build crews commenced work on the ground. My Department has worked closely with NBI to put in place a remedial plan under the Contract. This plan addresses delays experienced by NBI, primarily arising as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and re-baselines milestones for 2021. Work is underway to re-baseline milestones for 2022 and beyond. This has resulted in some changes to timeframes for connection for end users. 

Given the scale and complexity of delivery of the new high speed broadband network under the NBP, I am advised that any dates provided by NBI on its website are based on the best available information at the time and may be subject to change. NBI has recently published details of its full deployment schedule on its website, www.nbi.ie, which enables all premises within the intervention area to have an anticipated service activation date range.

Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) are a key element of the NBP providing high speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll out of the fibre to the home network. As of 17 September, 373 BCP sites have been installed by NBI and the high speed broadband service will be switched on in these locations through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for publicly accessible sites and the Department of Education for school BCPs. Further details can be found at nbi.ie/bcp-map/.

My Department continues to work with the Department of Education to prioritise schools with no high speed broadband, within the Intervention Area, for connection over the term of the NBP. In this regard, an acceleration of this aspect of the National Broadband Plan was announced in December which will see some 679 primary schools connected to high speed broadband by 2022, well ahead of the original target delivery timeframe of 2026.  Further details are available on the NBI website, at nbi.ie/primary-schools-list/.

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