Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 February 2023
49. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the timeframe for the rollout of at least 30mb broadband speeds to a location (details supplied) in County Donegal as part of the national broadband plan; if such areas with poor or no broadband coverage shall be prioritised during the rollout phase as part of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7698/23]
View answer50. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the timeframe for the rollout of at least 30mb broadband speeds to a location (details supplied) in County Donegal as part of the national broadband plan; if such areas with poor or no broadband coverage shall be prioritised during the rollout phase as part of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7699/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 49 and 50 together.
The Questions refer to premises located in the AMBER area on the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map which is available on my Department's website www.broadband.gov.ie. The AMBER area represents the area to be served by the network to be deployed under the NBP State led intervention.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Donegal 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.
I am advised by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that, as of 3rd February 2023, over 125,800 premises can order or pre-order a high-speed broadband connection across 26 counties, with over 118,000 premises passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. NBI has advised that 3,059 premises in County Donegal are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection.
The network rollout for the NBP is divided into 227 Deployment Areas (DAs) across the country. These are typically an area of approximately 25km in radius and in total they cover 96% of Ireland’s landmass. The architecture of the network design is specifically based on the design of the NBI network coming from the eir exchanges or the metropolitan area networks (MANs). It is based on an engineering design that allows NBI to reach every premises as quickly as possible working within the confines of how fibre networks are built. Villages, townlands and counties may be covered by a number of DAs which means there are differing timescales for the rollout across county areas.
NBI have created a portal that will serve as a means for Oireachtas members to proactively search for information relevant to their county/local area. The portal provides an up-to-date picture of NBI’s deployment schedule across the 227 Deployment Areas (DAs) in all 26 counties. A particular county can be selected to view an update of the overall number of premises in the Intervention Area, the overall NBP investment in the county, the number of premises passed and connected to date and the status of each of the Deployment Areas with the anticipated date for connection over the lifetime of the project. The dedicated webpage can be accessed here: www.nbi.ie.
Strategic Connection Points (SCPs) 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 3rd February 2023, 863 SCP sites (281 Broadband Connection Points, which are publicly accessible sites, and 582 schools) have been installed 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. In County Donegal all 12 BCP’s have been installed. Further details can be found at nbi.ie/bcp-map/.
In County Donegal 38 schools have been installed to date for educational access. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education to prioritise schools with no high-speed broadband, within the Intervention Area. Further details of schools in scope are available on the NBI website at nbi.ie/primary-schools-list/.
