Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 June 2023
167. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the timeframe for the roll-out 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 roll-out phase as part of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29002/23]
View answerThe Question refers to a 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.
I am advised by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that, as of 02 June 2023, 147,159 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. 42,805 connections have already been made to the NBP high-speed broadband network. NBI has advised that as of 02 June, 3,120 premises in County Donegal are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection with 1,075 premises connected.
The network roll-out 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 network is specifically designed based on the NBI network coming from the eir exchanges or the metropolitan area networks (MANs) which allows NBI to reach every premises as quickly as possible. Villages, townlands and counties are covered by a number of DAs which means there are differing timescales for the roll-out across county areas.
Each DA creates a ‘fibre ring’ which is essential to ensure reliability, robustness and resilience. Critical to the success of the network, NBI’s fibre rings are built with back-ups, ensuring that in the event of one fibre cable being disrupted, the whole network continues to perform, protecting customer experience. Each fibre ring that NBI deploys is designed in a way that is non-discriminatory, meaning that as the roll-out progresses, it may pass relatively urban areas at the same time as passing some of the most remote premises within the intervention area. The design utilises existing infrastructure to a very significant degree.
The NBP network build, that started in 2020, is scheduled to be completed by 2027. NBI advise that the premises referred to in the question is at a status of ‘Survey Underway’.
Surveys are needed to establish the condition of existing poles and ducts, to ascertain whether repairs are needed. NBI’s contractors walk the fibre route to inspect infrastructure and gather detailed information on local conditions and this work is on-going. Further steps are then required prior to fibre build and connections including:
• Results from surveys are sent to NBI’s design teams who then develop detailed designs for each of the 227 Deployment Areas for submission to the Department for “Approval to Proceed” with fibre build;
• Repair/activities (“Make Ready”) carried out to ensure existing infrastructure is sufficiently prepared to pass the premises with fibre;
• Installation of and connection to electronic equipment in each Local Exchange building;
• Laying of the physical fibre along the poles and ducts;
• Fibre build quality checks, network testing and handover within NBI;
• Upload of specific fibre build details by premises to computer systems within NBI, enabling retail service providers to make connection orders visible on their respective systems which in turn allows premises’ owners to place orders.
• On completion of network build works customers can then place an order and request a connection to be scheduled with the retail service provider of choice.
All of these activities must be completed before the premises can be designated premises passed status.
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 dedicated webpage can be accessed here: nbi.ie/reps
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 02 June 2023, 926 SCP sites 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 BCPs have been installed to date. Further details can be found at nbi.ie/bcp-map/.
In County Donegal 40 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/.
