I propose to take Questions Nos. 901 to 904, inclusive, together.
When the National Broadband Plan was first published in 2012, it envisaged that the commercial sector would provide high speed fixed line services to 50% of the population, amounting to 1.3m of Ireland’s 2.3m addresses by 2015. Mobile operators envisaged that they would provide 4G coverage to up to 70% of the population by 2018.
Since 2012 a number of critical developments have led Government to scale up its ambition:
- EU State Aid Guidelines published in December 2012 pointed to the need for Governments to demonstrate a “step change” in any intervention, with fibre “as close as possible” to end users;
- ComReg’s multiband spectrum auction in December 2012 released valuable new spectrum, allowing mobile operators to step-up investment programmes;
- Industry has accelerated its investment in networks and services. As a consequence, the addressable area for the State has reduced by almost 50% (from 1.3m to 750,000);
- The commercial developments will deliver on almost all of the combined industry and Government commitments made in 2012;
- Consumer demand for bandwidth has greatly increased and significant investments in urban areas are exacerbating the urban-rural divide;
- Evidence from previous Government interventions and internationally points to the need to invest in a network that is capable of scaling to meet current and future needs.
As a consequence of these developments, in April 2014, the Government agreed to a more ambitious programme of intervention for the remaining areas that will not be served by commercial operators.
The Deputy will by now be familiar with the high-speed broadband coverage map which I published last year and which shows clearly those parts of the country that will be covered by commercial investment and those that will require intervention by the State to ensure connectivity.
The draft Intervention Strategy will be published for public consultation later this week. Following the consultation process over the summer, I hope to move to formal procurement phase towards the end of this year in order to select a preferred bidder or bidders.
I expect the physical build of the network to begin in late 2016, and it will take 3-5 years to fully complete – depending on the details of the bid or bids selected.
This complex national infrastructure project will definitively address the long-standing challenge of deploying a resilient and high quality broadband network in rural parts of Ireland.