Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 April 2017
338. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the amount of the subsidy to the contractor responsible for delivering the national broadband plan; the overall cost of this subsidy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19026/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra339. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the terms of agreement between his Department and a company (details supplied) with regard to the recent decision to take 300,000 homes and premises out of the State intervention area of the national broadband plan; and the penalties that will apply should the company fail to meet its commitment. [19027/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra340. Deputy Timmy Dooley asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when negotiations began with a company (details supplied) over the recent decision to remove 300,000 homes from the national broadband plan; when the two other bidders (details supplied) were informed of this decision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19028/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 338 to 340, inclusive, together.
The Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State led intervention in areas where commercial services have not been fully demonstrated.
A key principle of the NBP is to support and stimulate commercial investment through policy and regulatory measures. Commercial investment since the publication of the NBP has considerably exceeded expectations. To date, the commercial telecommunications sector has invested over €2.5bn in upgrading and modernising networks which support the provision of high speed broadband and mobile telecoms services.
The State is not a service provider in the telecoms market and in line with EU State Aid guidelines and competition rules can only intervene where there is clear evidence that the commercial sector has not and will not in the future invest.
In October 2015 the Department published the process it proposed to adopt in order to assess commercial high speed broadband investment plans and made this available on the Department’s website. Plans received from commercial operators were subsequently assessed under technical, deployment and financial criteria, in line with the EU State Aid requirements. This resulted in the publication of the High Speed Broadband Map in December 2015. The Map is a critical aspect of State Aid compliance and the mapping process remained open in accordance with the published terms so as to ensure that existing plans are realised and that new development can be managed.
The Department commenced the procurement process in December 2015 in respect of the Intervention Area, based on the premises in the AMBER area of the High Speed Broadband Map published by the Department in December 2015.
As the Procurement process advances, a strong focus for the Department has been on ensuring that the promised services are delivered in those areas classified as “BLUE”, which are currently outside the scope of the procurement process. Consultation with industry has intensified since January 2016, with a view to interrogating existing BLUE areas further.
Bidders have requested certainty on the Intervention Area to allow them to develop their business cases and the Department is also of the view that greater certainty on the map is required by bidders and is critical for the procurement process.
In November 2016 my Department initiated a review of an eir proposal to rollout fibre to 300,000 premises in rural areas on a commercial basis to a proportion of the Intervention area. This analysis is now complete and on 4 April, I signed a Commitment Agreement with eir in relation to their plans to provide high speed broadband to an additional 300,000 premises in rural areas on a commercial basis. Eir has committed to doing this work over a 90 week period, with an average of 500 premises passed per day. The rollout plan has been agreed with my Department and this along with the tight deadline will be monitored closely by my Department to ensure that eir meets their obligations under the Agreement. A copy of the Commitment Agreement is available on my website www.dccae.gov.ie. The Agreement provides that penalties of scale may be imposed on eir, in the event of failure by eir to rollout in accordance with the Commitment Agreement, so as to ensure any costs incurred by my Department are reimbursed by eir.
On the same day I published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. which finalises the State Intervention area. The updated Map shows the following categories of areas for delivery of broadband:
- The BLUE areas represent those areas where commercial telecommunications providers are either currently delivering or have indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services,
- The AMBER areas on the High Speed Broadband Map represent the areas that will require State Intervention and are the subject of the current procurement process.
Individuals can themselves check whether their premises is in a BLUE or an AMBER area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode at www.broadband.gov.ie
A formal procurement process is in train to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network within the State Intervention Area. The procurement process is being intensively managed, to ensure an outcome that delivers a future-proofed network that serves homes and businesses across Ireland, for at least 25 years. The finalisation of the State Intervention Area for the procurement process is an important milestone as it means that bidders can progress their business plans and the Department can move to the next stage of the procurement.
The timeframe for the procurement continues to be dependent on a range of factors including the complexities that may be encountered by the procurement team and bidders, during the procurement process. During the Department's extensive stakeholder consultations in 2015, telecommunications service providers indicated a 3-5 year timeline to rollout a network of the scale envisaged under the NBP once contracts are in place.
The Programme for Government also commits to measures to assist in the rollout of the network once a contract is awarded.
The Department will engage with winning bidder(s) on the best rollout strategy, in order to target areas of particularly poor service, business needs and/or high demand and a prioritisation programme.
The Government remains committed to ensuring that all parts of Ireland will have at least 30Mbps connectivity, through public or private sector investment, as outlined in the National Broadband Plan.
The Government’s Capital Investment Plan published on 29 September 2015, includes an initial provision of €275m for the NBP up to 2021. The €275m represents an initial stimulus for the first five years of the NBP intervention. It is likely that a significantly higher level of funding will be required over the duration of the proposed 25 year term of the contract. The level of exchequer funding required for the NBP will only be known after the competitive tender process has concluded and bidders provide their estimates of cost and subsidy requirements.
