Vol. 573 No. 2
131 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the situation in relation to the provision of broadband services for County Donegal; the amount of money which has been earmarked to the county for the provision of broadband; the amount of money which has been allocated; the towns, areas or groups which have received funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24687/03]
The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter in the first instance for the private sector companies operating in a fully liberalised market, regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation. The Government has made funding available under the previous and current national development plans to leverage investment by the private sector in advanced broadband infrastructure and services.
Under the INTERREG programme, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Eircom invested upwards of €4.7 million extending the fibre network from Falcarragh through Bunbeg, Dungloe, Glenties and Killybegs to Donegal town. The broadband infrastructure provides backbone capacity of STM-4 standard – 622 Mbit/s. The surrounding towns are linked to the backbone subsidiary through STM-1 nodes.
An indicative figure of €200 million of Government and European Regional Development Fund funding is being made available under the e-commerce and communications measure of the National Development Plan 2000 – 2006 to assist with the roll-out of advanced telecommunications infrastructure in rural Ireland, including fibre trunk lines, metropolitan area networks and digital subscriber lines. Following the Government decision of 7 March 2002, metropolitan area fibre networks are being constructed in 19 towns and cities. Two of these networks are being built in County Donegal, at Gweedore and Letterkenny. The construction phase of the Gweedore fibre network, which will be 3 km. in length and cost €570,000, was officially launched on 6 October. The Letterkenny network, which will be launched shortly, will be 20 km. in length and will cost €3.6 million.
132 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the plans he has to roll out broadband for west Wicklow-Carlow; if this can be done as speedily as possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24688/03]
133 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the plans he has to roll out broadband for County Wicklow; if this can be done as speedily as possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24689/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 132 and 133 together.
The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter in the first instance for the private sector companies operating in a fully liberalised market, regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.
Under the communications and e-commerce measure of the National Development Plan 2000 – 2006, an indicative €200 million has been allocated to telecommunications initiatives. Following a Government decision of 7 March 2002, the main thrust of this investment is the creation of metropolitan area fibre networks in 19 towns and cities throughout the country. These networks are now under construction and when completed they will be operated by a neutral, managed services entity, providing open access on a cost basis for all interested parties.
Other projects being funded under this measure, such as the roll-out of digital subscriber lines and the upgrade of trunk fibre networks, will see the gradual spread of open access, affordable broadband infrastructure and services to all areas. I understand that upward of 900,000 telephone lines are now DSL-enabled nationwide, and Eircom aims to have 1.2 million lines enabled by March 2004.
The Government recognises there are areas of the country that are not likely to attract investment in infrastructure and services due to differing demographics and population densities. Using funding from the regional broadband and technology demonstration programme, my Department is conducting trials of wireless local area network, WLAN, technology. Trials are currently under way in seven locations, and I expect to have a final report by the end of the year. The results of these trials will be assessed by an expert group to establish the best policy in respect of wireless broadband infrastructure.
