Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 October 2023
56. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if and when reliable, high-speed broadband will be provided in the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42985/23]
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 a combination of commercial investments and through the State investment in National Broadband Ireland (NBI).
The 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.
NBI have advised that the network build is currently in progress for the Eircode provided. I understand that NBI’s current forecast date for when end users can order high speed broadband, with a minimum speed of 500Mbps, is April 2024 – June 2024.
NBI will roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the intervention area which covers 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 22nd September 2023, 182,250 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. 54,474 premises are already connected to the NBP high-speed broadband network. Furthermore, as of 31st August 2023 in the Deputy’s own county of Kildare, over 4,000 homes and businesses have been passed by NBI and are available for immediate connection, with c. 1,260 of those now connected to the NBP State Intervention network.
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 22nd September some 950 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. In County Kildare all 3 BCP’s have been installed.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Kildare 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 County Kildare all 10 schools have been installed by NBI 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/.
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.
