Skip to main content
Normal View

National Broadband Plan

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 February 2022

Tuesday, 1 February 2022

Questions (210, 211, 212, 213, 214)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

210. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will provide a schedule of all of the information disclosed by his Department to the Commission for Communications Regulation regarding the 2019 national broadband plan mapping exercise. [4268/22]

View answer

Catherine Murphy

Question:

211. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the nature and detail of the information disclosed by his Department to the Commission for Communications Regulation regarding the mapping submissions his Department received in its conclusion of the national broadband plan mapping exercise in 2019. [4269/22]

View answer

Catherine Murphy

Question:

212. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will provide a schedule of communications between his Department and the Commission for Communications Regulation from the start of the national broadband plan mapping exercise in July 2019 and the approval of the commission in December 2019, in tabular form. [4270/22]

View answer

Catherine Murphy

Question:

213. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if his Department disclosed and or forwarded the mapping submissions of the operators in relation to the national broadband pan to the Commission for Communications Regulation in the period of 30 September 2019 and 15 November 2019. [4271/22]

View answer

Catherine Murphy

Question:

214. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will publish the reports, presentations and assurances given and dates of their first disclosure and communication by his Department including its advisers and or consultants as they relate to the national broadband plan mapping exercise to the Commission for Communications Regulation in the period 26 July 2019 and 15 November 2019. [4272/22]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 210 to 214, inclusive, together.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is a Government policy initiative that is being achieved through a combination of accelerated commercial investment by telecoms operators, and a State intervention.

Information regarding the NBP is available on the Department’s website at www.broadband.gov.ie.  As a State intervention, the NBP must comply with the requirements of the European Commission’s State Aid Guidelines (SAG) on the application of the State aid rules to broadband networks.  The SAG requires, amongst other things, that Member States carry out a detailed mapping exercise and public consultation process to identify, as far as reasonably possible, those areas where intervention is required.

Since 2013, the Department has engaged in an extensive Mapping Process to map broadband availability across Ireland, in order to identify which geographic areas already have or will have access to Next Generation Access (NGA) broadband services, i.e. a broadband service delivering at least 30Mbps download speeds and which areas required intervention from the State.  Extensive information has been published at every stage of the overall NBP process, including each iteration of the NBP Map and extensive information on the Mapping Process and the development of the NBP Map itself. This information can be found at www.broadband.gov.ie.

The mapping process included a number of public consultations conducted over a six year period from 2013 to 2019.  The most recent public consultation was in November 2019, which aimed to finalise the NBP Map in advance of signing the NBP contract. This public consultation confirmed the existing and planned coverage of NGA broadband services across Ireland. It relied on the most up to date information available, shared by commercial operators, of their existing and planned broadband services. The Department undertook an analysis of this information and determined where NGA broadband services existed and where it was planned. For example, in some cases, certain operators claimed they were already delivering NGA broadband services whereas the Department determined that, in fact, they were not.

The content of the operator submissions broadly included details of the operator’s network design, technology solution, coverage area of the operator’s network, the location and number of sites etc as well as their plans for future deployments if available. 

Certain operator submissions claimed that NGA broadband services were already in place across the vast majority of rural Ireland and that there was no need for any State intervention in most rural areas, whereas other operators recognised the deficit in NGA broadband services and supported the State’s planned intervention.

Since 2013 and in line with SAG recommendations, the Department has consulted with ComReg on the NBP mapping at every stage of the process. The Department and ComReg established an NBP Expert Group, to have engagement on the key issues and areas relevant to the NBP Intervention, including the Mapping Process. 

In 2019 consistent with ComReg’s role on the NBP Expert Group, ComReg was provided with copies of all operators submissions to the 2019 consultation. These comprised of 29 operator submissions and one group submission representing 28 fixed wireless operators. ComReg supported by their own advisors provided a number of observations on the analysis and draft findings, which were then taken into account when arriving at the conclusion of the Mapping process.

Each operator was subsequently informed of the outcome of the analysis and the conclusion as to whether their existing and/or planned coverage was accepted as delivering NGA broadband services or not.  The NBP Map was then updated and republished with the most up to date information. The NBP Map can be found at www.broadband.gov.ie.

Copies of these operator submissions are already published on my Department’s website in the Consultation Submission section of the 2019 Mapping Consultation page at www.gov.ie/en/consultation/61fcf-consultation-on-conclusion-of-the-nbp-mapping-exercise-for-the-intervention-area/.

In addition, the overall findings and conclusion of the 2019 NBP Mapping Consultation Summary of Findings Report, can be found in the Update 17 December 2019 – Summary of Findings section of the 2019 Mapping Consultation page at www.gov.ie/en/consultation/61fcf-consultation-on-conclusion-of-the-nbp-mapping-exercise-for-the-intervention-area/ .

ComReg overall expert opinion is also already published on both ComReg’s and the Department’s website and can be found in the Update 17 December 2019 – Summary of Findings section of the 2019 Mapping Consultation page at www.gov.ie/en/consultation/61fcf-consultation-on-conclusion-of-the-nbp-mapping-exercise-for-the-intervention-area/.

Question No. 211 answered with Question No. 210.
Question No. 212 answered with Question No. 210.
Question No. 213 answered with Question No. 210.
Question No. 214 answered with Question No. 210.
Top
Share