The Government's National Broadband Plan, NBP, will ensure high-speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location. The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector so that, to date, approximately 1.5 million or 65% of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland can get high-speed broadband and this footprint is expanding.
In April, I published an updated High-Speed Broadband Map which is available at: www.broadband.gov.ie. This map shows the areas targeted by commercial operators to provide high-speed broadband services and the areas that will be included in the State Intervention Area. The Map is searchable by Eircode by individuals seeking information:
· The BLUE areas on the Map 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 Map represent the areas that will require State Intervention and are the subject of a procurement process.
The Eircode referenced is within the AMBER area and will be covered by the State intervention under the NBP.
My Department is engaged in an ongoing procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll out a new high-speed broadband network for the State-led intervention. A significant milestone in that procurement process was reached on 26 September with the submission of, "Detailed Solutions", by two bidders. This is the last stage of the procurement process before receipt of final tenders and ultimate progression to the appointment of a preferred bidder(s).
To improve both mobile and broadband services in rural Ireland in advance of the roll-out of the high-speed broadband network to be built in the State intervention area, I established a Taskforce to identify immediate solutions to mobile phone and broadband coverage deficits and investigate how better services could be provided to consumers.
Under this Taskforce, engagement between telecommunications operators and local authorities through the Broadband Officers is continuing to strengthen. These Broadband Officers are acting as single points of contact in local authorities for their communities. The appointment of these Officers is already reaping rewards in terms of ensuring a much greater degree of consistency in engagements with operators and clearing obstacles to developing infrastructure. There is a link to a list of these local Broadband Officers on my Department's website.
