Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 October 2023
20. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he plans to provide funding and support for people who, despite being in an area eligible for fibre, cannot access the fibre network due to infrastructural complications impeding their local access, for example, ducts running under a neighbour's property requiring digging; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43453/23]
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).
Commercial operators’ fibre rollouts are progressing at pace. Eir is in the process of building a FTTP (Fibre To The Premises) network to 1.9 million premises. SIRO recently reaching a milestone of enabling 520,000 premises for full fibre, and is on track to reach 700,000 premises by 2026. Virgin Media recently announced plans to bring 2Gbps services to 345,000 premises, through an upgrade and expansion of their own network, and to bring gigabit broadband upgrades to 1 million premises.
For premises in the State Intervention area, NBI are contractually obligated to make connections and implement design solutions to address any local impediments and therefore they already provide full support in this regard.
In order to provide funding and support for people who, despite being in an area eligible for fibre, cannot access the fibre network due to infrastructural complications impeding their local access, I would like to request that the Deputy provide the Eircodes of the premises to which he is referring, along with as much relevant detail as possible, including the name of the company that has refused to connect the individuals he is referring to. My officials will investigate this matter, and I will respond to the Deputy as soon as possible. Please forward all the details to DCO@decc.gov.ie.
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.
