Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 December 2017
414. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the procurement process for the national broadband plan; the status and timeframe of the work carried out in the process to date; when the procurement process will be complete; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52942/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra415. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the areas in County Mayo and the number of households that will be designated and included in the category of State intervention areas in relation to the implementation of the national broadband plan, in tabular form; when roll-out of the project will commence; when the project will be completed; if the plan and roll-out will include the provision of fibre broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52943/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 414 and 415 together.
The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to 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 today over 67% of the 2.3m premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. This is set to increase to 77% (1.8m premises) by the end of 2018 and to 90% (2.1m premises) by the end of 2020.
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 under the National Broadband Plan (NBP).
The Map is colour coded and searchable by address/eircode:
- The AMBER areas represent the target areas for the proposed State led Intervention under the NBP and are the subject of an on-going procurement process.
- The BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services.
- The Light BLUE areas represent eir's commercial rural deployment plans to rollout high speed broadband to 300,000 premises by the end of 2018 as part of an Agreement signed with me in April.
The map shows that over 36,000 (44%) premises in Mayo fall within the AMBER area. Nearly 32,000 (38%) fall within the BLUE area and approximately 14,500 (18%) are LIGHT BLUE.
Individuals can themselves check whether their premises are in an AMBER, BLUE or LIGHT BLUE area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode at www.broadband.gov.ie.
In December 2015 my Department began a formal procurement process to select a bidder or bidders who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area. Having moved through the Pre-qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) stages, that procurement process is now at an advanced stage. “Detailed Solutions” submitted by two bidders on 26th September are being evaluated by the NBP specialist team. The next stage in the procurement process is the receipt of final tenders followed by the appointment of a preferred bidder(s) and contract signature.
As part of this procurement process, the bidder(s) will be required to submit their strategies, including timescales, for the network build and rollout. My Department will engage with the winning bidder(s) to ensure the most efficient deployment as part of the contract. Bidders have indicated to officials in my Department that they intend to use a mostly Fibre to the Home solution for the State intervention network.
