Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 October 2013
9. Deputy Joe McHugh asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on the quality of mobile telephone reception and broadband connectivity here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45039/13]
Amharc ar fhreagra11. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which the telecommunications sector in this jurisdiction, including broadband, mobile telephony or satellite communications, has evolved to a sufficient degree to ensure the availability of state-of-the-art telecommunications throughout the country; the extent to which it has been found possible to augment this infrastructure in each of the past five years to date; if development within the sector has kept pace with that in competing economies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45164/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraConsiderable progress has been made in recent years in both the coverage of mobile telephone and broadband services across Ireland, with a multiplicity of commercial operators providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms.
ComReg advises that voice coverage is at 99% of the country. The Government has also undertaken a number of initiatives to bring broadband to those parts of the country where commercial operators have been unable to offer services. The combination of private investment and State interventions such as the national broadband scheme means that Ireland has met the European Commission's digital agenda for Europe's target of having a basic broadband service available to all areas by 2013.
The Government's national broadband plan, which I published in August 2012, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses. This will be achieved by providing a policy and regulatory framework that assists in accelerating and incentivising commercial investment and a State-led investment for areas where it is not commercial for the market to invest.
In order to progress the State-led investment for areas where it is not commercial for the market to invest, a full procurement process must be designed and EU state aids approval must be obtained. My Department is engaged in a comprehensive mapping exercise of the current and anticipated investment by the commercial sector to identify where the market is expected to deliver high-speed broadband services over the coming years. The results of this mapping exercise will inform the precise areas that need to be targeted in the State-led investment as envisaged in the national broadband plan. Intensive technical, financial and legal preparations, including stakeholder engagement, are ongoing. The procurement process for the approved intervention will be carried out in accordance with EU and Irish procurement rules. Since the publication of the plan, investments by the commercial sector are underway in both fixed line and wireless high speed broadband services, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas. There is evidence that industry is investing beyond the targets to which it committed in the plan.
I will set out some of the key developments in the short and medium term. The e-fibre investment programme is a further very positive development in the Irish telecommunications market. Eircom launched its next generation broadband services in May last with speeds of up to 70 megabits per second, Mbps, immediately available to over 300,000 premises. By the end of this year, Eircom aims to reach more than 600,000 homes and businesses. It has a target to pass 1.2 million premises by June 2015. Full details of its roll-out plans are available on Eircom's website in a user-friendly on-line map. Last week, the company announced the launch of its new television service which is linked to its e-fibre investment programme. This is a further very positive development in the Irish telecommunications market.
UPC is continuing with its investment in the cable network and recently boosted its entry level package from 50 Mbps per second to 120 Mbps and its top speed to 200 Mbps. This increase will be immediately available to some 656,000 households in the areas covered by UPC's network. Other fixed operators also continue to invest in local loop unbundling. BT Ireland now supplies broadband access to both Vodafone and Sky Ireland and along with other operators is also investing in fixed infrastructure. Meteor and Vodafone have announced the launch of 4G services and the other mobile service providers are planning similar roll outs in the coming months. Some of this investment will also involve significant improvement to current 3G coverage throughout the country.
Deputies will also be aware that the ESB is currently considering the prospect of utilising its distribution network to roll out fibre broadband services. I am, therefore, confident that with the continued significant private sector investment combined with the planned targeted State intervention, we will achieve our ambition of ensuring the ubiquitous availability of modern, resilient high-speed broadband services to all parts of the country in the next few years.
I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply and for outlining the provisions and objectives he has read out. I am sure he, I and everybody else in this House has had experiences in various parts of the country where one moves around the house or upstairs and sometimes out into the backyard or up the road to get an adequate mobile telephone service. This is not happening in other countries nor should it be. I realise fully that the kind of investment that is required should have been undertaken about ten or 15 years ago when this country was overflowing with money but it did not happen. I know the Minister knows that as well.
Arising from what the Minister has just said, has any particular deficiency been identified which could be remedied in the shortest possible time, be it in fibre optics, wired, wireless or satellite, which would have the effect of improving the quality of service in respect of broadband and mobile telephony? Of all the complaints I get from time to time from the business sector and those trying to set up small businesses in their homes, the lack of adequate broadband or mobile telephone services is one that comes up again and again. I was told recently that one could boil the kettle while waiting for the broadband service to come on stream. That is not a criticism of the Minister.
Deputy Durkan is correct about the lack of uniformity of the service throughout the country. Unfortunately, that lack of uniformity is in every country with a rural population. We have the least densely populous rural demographics in the EU. That is not an excuse for creating a new digital divide in the country. We must do our utmost so that even where it is not commercial for the private operators to provide the service for which Deputy Durkan is arguing, the State will intervene. I accept that.
In respect of the short-term improvements sought by Deputy Durkan, be they fibre optic, wireless or satellite, they are proceeding apace at a faster rate than would have been anticipated even by the regulator. Unfortunately, it does not deal with Deputy Durkan's problem of the black spot where it is deficient regardless of whether it is mobile telephony or broadband. It is deficient. Previous investment by the State, for example, in the national broadband scheme or the metropolitan area networks around some 93 towns has certainly brought about a significant improvement but we are back to the requisite of State intervention to deal with the issue comprehensively.
In conclusion, I will give Deputy Durkan one example of the range of things I mentioned in my formal reply. This is the project envisaged by the ESB in respect of the use of its distribution system to roll out fibre to parts of Ireland that could not otherwise reasonably expect to have such a service delivered to them. The ESB has progressed it to the stage of having held its competition and now has a preferred bidder. In other words, it will open a joint venture with a leading telecommunications company to provide this service to parts of rural Ireland using the distribution system. As far as I know, this has only been done in Chattanooga in Tennessee. Due to the fact that we have an especially firm infrastructure and a temperate climate, the distribution system is capable of giving this service. It would be unheard of in the US or indeed in Europe for a fibre service to be provided in the fashion envisaged by the ESB. It is just one example and one that deserves the support of the House.
