I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 19 together.
The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter for the private sector. Broadband service providers operate in a fully liberalised market, regulated, where appropriate, by the independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.
The role of the Government is to formulate regulatory and infrastructure policies to facilitate the provision of high quality telecommunications services by competing private sector service providers.
The widespread provision of broadband services continues to be a priority for the Government. In that regard my Department has undertaken initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage. These include providing grant-aid under the recently concluded Group Broadband Scheme and investment in Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs).
Broadband penetration has increased significantly in recent years. Penetration levels have increased to 698,000 subscribers which, by OECD measures, is the equivalent of 16.48% of the population. This compares to less than 1% in 2002.
As a result Ireland has improved its position internationally and Government action through provision of an optimal regulatory regime and targeted infrastructural investment will continue to support this performance.
There are still some parts of the country where the private sector will be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband services. Accordingly, the procurement process for a National Broadband Scheme (NBS) is under way. The NBS will provide broadband services to areas that are currently unserved and will ensure that all reasonable requests for broadband in unserved areas are met.
The first phase of the procurement process, the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) phase, is now complete and four candidates have pre-qualified. As my Department indicated on 2 September, the four candidates are, in alphabetical order, BT Communications Ireland Ltd Consortium, eircom Ltd, Hutchinson 3G Ireland Ltd and IFA/Motorola Consortium.
The next phase of the procurement process involves inviting candidates to participate in a competitive dialogue process. My Department is anticipating that the award of the NBS contract will be Quarter 2 of 2008, with rollout of the services due to begin as soon as possible thereafter. This timeline is subject to negotiations with candidates during the competitive dialogue phase of the procurement process.
The broadband product to be provided under the NBS will be broadly equivalent to the tariffs and products typically available on the Irish market. The most appropriate mechanism to achieve this aim will be decided during the competitive dialogue process.
Financial modelling has been undertaken to establish the estimated cost for the Scheme. I do not propose to make that figure public as knowledge of the estimated cost could influence the negotiation process.
Broadband connections are excluded from the Universal Service requirements. The implementation of such a requirement would be the responsibility of ComReg.