Phil Hogan
Ceist:183 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the total State investment made in each region since June 1997 in respect of telecommunications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8944/02]
Written Answers. - Telecommunications Services.
Investment in telecommunications networks and services is a matter for the companies who now operate in a fully liberalised market. My responsibility is for public policy in the sector within which these companies operate. The widest possible availability of competitive services has traditionally been an important objective of Irish telecommunications policy. However, I have, in recent years, put in place a number of initiatives, which seek to address gaps in communications infrastructure in regional Ireland.
In 1999, under the National Development Plan 1994-1999 and INTERREG II, €26 million –€13 million in each region – was made available to support the roll-out of broadband to the regions. A total of 13 projects which rolled-out broadband nationwide to a value of €70 million in both public and private funding were supported and are completed. These projects entailed the roll-out of broadband services in the Border, midlands and west region and the south and east region.
Under the National Development Plan 2000-2006, the figure allocated to telecommunications initiatives was approximately €200 million. A first call for proposals was run in 2000 and on foot of submissions received, I signed nine contracts at the beginning of last year which will result in additional investment in the regions in broadband infrastructure. The projects involved will be completed over the next two years and will entail overall investment of €160 million in broadband leveraged from grant assistance of approximately €55 million.
Of this €55 million, approximately €1.2 million has been spent in the BMW and €3.4 million in the south and east region to date. Details of these programmes are available on the Internet at www.ndpcomms.gov.ie. At the beginning of August 2001 I announced a second call for pro posals. The deadline for receipt of proposals was 19 October 2001. In all, 31 proposals have been received. These submissions were independently evaluated and the results of the evaluation finalised at the beginning of this year.
On foot of the evaluation a number of local authorities have been asked to enter procurement to establish firm prices for their proposals. Once procurement is completed, and subject to satisfactory pricing, contracts will be offered for these projects. It is anticipated that this will take place over the next two months. These proposals involve the construction of metro area fibre optic networks in 19 towns around the country. Networks in other towns are under discussion with the relevant local authorities.
A number of private sector tenders received in response to the call for proposals are being clarified and may be offered contracts in the coming weeks. Arising from the Government strategy, which I announced on 8 March, a second phase of 48 additional towns will be pursued through a public private partnership model. In addition, a sum of €76 million has been spent in 2001 and 2002 on property purchase and telecommunications infrastructure for the Digital Hub and MediaLabEurope projects located in the Liberties-Coombe area of Dublin. My Department is also funding 32 CAIT projects in the BMW region to a sum of €2.3 million and 39 projects in the south and east region to a sum of €2.8 million.