Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 October 2023
57. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the measures his Department is taking to expedite broadband rollout in south Roscommon; if broadband will be rolled out before the estimated date of 2027; the measures in place to improve connectivity and phone signal in the area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42990/23]
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.
Commercial operators’ fibre rollouts are progressing at pace. Open eir have already passed over 15,812 homes and businesses in Co. Roscommon with gigabit services, with a further c.3,000 to be passed over the next 2 – 3 years, bringing their total fibre-based investment in the county to over €11.5m. Other commercial operators are also continuing to increase their network footprint right across County Roscommon, with SIRO recently passing 1,570 premises for full fibre, and Virgin Media passing 798 premises.
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 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.
As of 31st August 8,438 premises in County Roscommon are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection with 2,437 premises now connected.
Commercial operators and NBI will continue work in Roscommon, and all counties, over the next three years to complete their fibre rollouts and all efforts are bring made to speed up to the rollout. My Department is working extremely hard with Local Authorities to ensure any barriers encountered by these operators are dealt with quickly through day to day engagement and through the work of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Task force.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Roscommon and 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. `
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.
eir, Vodafone and Three are investing heavily in the upgrade of their mobile networks across the State and these investments will improve both mobile voice and data coverage
ComReg completed a Multi-Band Spectrum Award in January 2023, assigning rights of use in four spectrum bands, enabling the market to meet increasing consumer demand for mobile data and new services. An online map providing information on operators' coverage, including 5G, is available at coveragemap.comreg.ie/map.
