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 independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.
It is now estimated that over 85% of the population currently has access to broadband services. A lack of investment by the telecommunications sector in the necessary infrastructure has been an impediment to the delivery of competitive broadband services, primarily in the regions. The Government is addressing this investment deficit in the regions by building high-speed, open access Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) in 120 towns and cities nationwide. Phase One of this Programme has delivered fibre optic networks to 27 towns and cities throughout the country.
This Programme has been extended to over 90 towns in various locations nationwide. It is expected that these MANs will be completed during 2007 and 2008. These networks will allow the private sector to offer world-class broadband services at competitive prices.
My Department also offers funding assistance for smaller towns and rural communities through the County and Group Broadband Scheme. The scheme is technology-neutral, allowing the community to select the most suitable broadband delivery platform for the area. To date, over 160 projects have been approved for funding under this Programme.
A joint industry/Government fund of €18 million has been established for the Broadband for Schools Programme, to resource the provision of high speed broadband connectivity to all primary and post primary schools in the country by end Autumn 2006, at no cost to the schools themselves; 94% of schools have broadband installed to date; the aim is to complete the outstanding schools in the coming weeks.
Broadband subscriber numbers have increased hugely in the last two years. Almost 140,000 new broadband subscribers were added in 2005, and a further 100,000 in the first half of 2006 alone.
The latest ComReg quarterly report states there are 372,000 broadband subscribers as of June 2006. This is equivalent to 26.57% of all households. A snapshot of the market conducted by ComReg in the middle of September put the total number of broadband subscribers at over 410,000 subscribers, or almost 30% of households.
The official Government target was to have 400,000 subscribers by end-2006. This has been comfortably exceeded. My challenge to industry is to reach 500,000 broadband subscribers by the middle of 2007. Despite these successes there are some parts of the country where the private sector will be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband connectivity. I am currently examining options to address the delivery of broadband services to these areas and I hope to be in a position to bring proposals to Government shortly.