Ireland’s telecommunications market has been fully liberalised since 1999 in accordance with the requirements of binding EU Directives. The market has since developed into a well-regulated market, supporting a multiplicity of commercial operators, providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms. Details of broadband services available in each County, including Counties Longford and Westmeath, can be found on ComReg’s website at www.callcosts.ie.
The State can only intervene to ensure access to broadband services in areas where the competitive market fails to deliver such services. The Government has undertaken a number of initiatives to bring broadband to those parts of the country where operators have been unable to offer services on a commercial basis, as in the case of the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) and the National Broadband Scheme. The MANs, which consist of carrier-neutral duct and fibre rings, are available in 94 towns throughout the country and enable telecoms operators to offer high speed broadband to their retail customers without having to build their own networks. Within Counties Longford and Westmeath, MANs are located in Longford town, Athlone and Mullingar. I understand that the commercial sector is also investing in high speed broadband in a number of areas in Longford and Westmeath, with enhanced broadband services being offered in this areas between now and June 2014.
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, including those in Counties Longford and Westmeath. 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.
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.
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, the results of which 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 and it is expected that it will be launched in 2014.
This process will include a detailed specification of our requirements to deliver on the commitments in the National Broadband Plan. In designing any State-led procurement, my Department will be required to comply with the EU State aid rules in relation to the technology to be rolled out. The European Commission's guidelines set out that as different technological solutions exist to provide broadband services, the tender should not favour or exclude any particular technology or network platform. Through the implementation of the National Broadband Plan, I am committed to ensuring that all parts of Ireland have access to high speed broadband, with a view to ensuring that all citizens and businesses can participate fully in, and maximise the benefits of, a digitally enabled economy and society.
