Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 September 2023
76. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications for an update on the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan particularly in relation to counties Cavan and Monaghan. [41552/23]
View answerIn December 2022, my Department published Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy which supports the ambition outlined in the National Digital Strategy and sets out a number of ambitious targets, including that:
• all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028
• all populated areas will be covered by 5G no later than 2030, and
• digital connectivity will be delivered to all schools and broadband connection points by 2023
These targets will be achieved through commercial operators investing in their networks, complemented by the State’s National Broadband Plan intervention. When taken together, all premises in the State will have access to high-speed broadband in every part of the country no matter how remote.
The National Broadband Plan intervention contract provides for the roll out of a high speed and future-proofed broadband network to primarily rural areas. The intervention area covers over 1.1 million people living and working in over 560,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with some 679 schools.
I am advised by NBI that, as of 15th September 2023, 182,250 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. 53,695 premises are already connected to the NBP high-speed broadband network. NBI has also advised that as of 15th September, 4,052 premises in County Cavan and 6,972 in County Monaghan are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection with 1,483 premises connected in Cavan and 2,368 connected in Monaghan.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Cavan and Monaghan can be monitored via nbi.ie/reps. A county update can be selected to provide 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. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie , which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries. `
Along with the advancement of the National Broadband Plan in areas not included in industry plans, commercial operators’ fibre rollouts are progressing at pace. Open eir have already passed over 13,600 homes and businesses in Co. Cavan to gigabit services, with a further c.11,100 planned connections over the next 2 – 3 years, bringing their total fibre-based investment in the county to over €13m. In Monaghan, Open eir have already passed over 7,500 homes and businesses to gigabit services, with a further 11,000 planned connections over the next 2 – 3 years, bringing their total fibre-based investment in the county to over €9.5m. Other commercial operators are also continuing to increase their network footprint right across the State, with SIRO recently reaching a milestone of enabling 520,000 premises for full fibre, and Virgin Media announcing plans to bring 2Gbps services to 345,000 premises through upgrade and expansion of their own network.
Recent ComReg data shows that Quarter 2, 2023 saw a 7.4% increase in fibre broadband subscriptions compared to the first 3 months of the year, and a 33.7% increase when compared to Quarter 2 of 2022. This demonstrates that take-up of fibre connectivity for homes and businesses is increasing massively as it is deployed to areas where it had previously been unavailable. The same ComReg data also indicates that c.40% of homes and business throughout the State now have access to gigabit services through either fibre (576,856) or cable (359,669) infrastructure.
