Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 November 2012
4. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the way he proposes to ensure fair treatment of rural consumers in the provision of telecommunications services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53548/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI accept that the widespread availability of reliable telecommunications services in both voice and data are imperative in a modern economy and society. As a result of targeted Government interventions through initiatives such as the national broadband scheme, basic broadband services are now widely available across the country. In addition, the State-funded metropolitan area networks, MANs, are available in approximately 94 centres, including a number of small rural towns and they help facilitate the roll-out of higher speed broadband in these centres. The challenge now is to accelerate the roll-out of high speed services to all areas.
The national broadband plan, which I launched in August last, aims to change radically the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed services of at least 30 Mbps are available to all of our citizens and businesses, well in advance of the EU’s target date of 2020, and that significantly higher speeds are available to as many homes and businesses as possible. These ambitious targets apply to the entire country, including hard-to-reach rural areas. It is intended that the private sector will be the key driver of investment with potential State intervention confined to areas where the market is unlikely to invest.
The national broadband plan contains actions for investment, demand stimulation, infrastructure barrier removal, spectrum policy, potential contribution of State entities, and policy and regulation. This approach seeks to achieve a step-change in the level of services available throughout the country by accelerating private sector investment through a range of actions by public stakeholders, and particularly with regard to rural areas where the State expects to co-invest with the private sector in areas where the commercial case for infrastructure investment does not exist.
One of the first steps in delivering on the 30 Mbps and 40 Mbps commitments will be the completion of a formal national mapping exercise to determine the exact position in relation to commercial service providers’ existing and planned broadband services throughout the country. Preparatory work has commenced within my Department to expedite this mapping exercise.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
The mapping exercise will identify the areas of the country where there is market failure in the provision of high speed broadband services. It will also identify where the market is expected to succeed and fail in the delivery of high speed broadband over the coming years. This process is expected to take at least a number of months to complete. It will identify the precise areas of the country which will require State intervention to ensure the Government’s commitment that a minimum of 30 Mbps be available throughout the country is realised. It is also expected that the spectrum rights in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1800 MHz released following ComReg’s recent auction will play an important role in helping achieve these goals. The leveraging of this spectrum will be particularly important in radically improving mobile broadband speeds. In summary I can assure the Deputy that through implementation of the national broadband plan I am committed to tackling the digital divide decisively and to ensuring that much higher speed broadband is available in rural areas.
My question relates to the schools broadband initiative. We have schools that do not have any broadband connection. As the Minister outlined in his reply, broadband connectivity is of importance. A school in Milford in north Cork has no access to broadband which puts the pupils at significant disadvantage as they progress to second level and beyond. It is vitally important that we examine the issue.
Nothing is as divisive at the moment as broadband connectivity. One sees in the property pages of newspapers that houses in rural areas use broadband connectivity as a selling point. It is a great advantage to have it. Heretofore, it was important for working from home but as technology has moved on it has become essential.
ComReg regulation 11/72 is complete gobbledygook. It has allowed telecommunications companies to sell bundles at a higher price to rural dwellers compared to urban dwellers. The matter must be examined.
I agree with the Deputy that availability of high-speed broadband in the schools system is transformative.
I have seen the impact not only on the pupils but also on teachers. It really transforms the learning environment. For that reason, I am very proud that last year I was able to persuade the Department of Education and Skills - even if my Department has to pay for it - that every second level school in Ireland should be connected to industrial-strength broadband. So far we have completed this work in 297 schools. I realise selecting sites is a delicate business in politics, but I selected 13 western counties that are not in my constituency. Deputy Boyd Barrett should not look at me like that.
I did not say anything.
The 13 western counties were chosen because the reception they have is poor, as is the case in many areas. That job is now finished, and the second tranche is being prepared and will be completed by the beginning of the academic year in 2014. It really makes a difference. For example, there is a school in Warrenmount in Dublin, with which Deputy Joan Collins will be familiar, which is in a working-class urban area and never offered honours mathematics. Now there are five young women taking the subject in a virtual arrangement with another school. It is exceptional.
Notwithstanding the difficulties with investment at present, my Department pays for installation and running costs for a year, after which the Department of Education and Skills takes on the project.
Judging by the body language of the Minister, I wonder whether we should be fearful about the future of this programme. It is vital that broadband is at the top of the Government's agenda. This is as important to the present generation as rural electrification was in another time. Will the Minister look also at the sale of bundling in other spheres as they relate to rural communities?
Again, I agree with the Deputy. As described, this is the equivalent of the rural electrification scheme of the 1950s and is hugely significant. As the Deputy noted, if we are not careful there is a danger of creating a digital divide. I hope the national plan for broadband, which I published immediately after the summer recess, will remain an objective within the lifetime of this Government and that by 2016 nowhere in the country will have less than 30 Mbps. It is an ambitious target but one we intend to meet. As I stated in my formal answer, it is ahead of the digital agenda for Europe and ten times better than what certain rural areas have to put up with at present.
I will be glad to draw Deputy Moynihan's second point to the attention of ComReg, which, as he will understand, is an independent statutory body.
