Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 February 2018
517. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the implications of a company's (details supplied) withdrawal from the rendering process of the national broadband plan for identified broadband black spots in County Louth. [5943/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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. 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland now have access to high speed broadband. Within a year that number will rise to nearly 8 out of 10 premises and by 2020 9 out of 10 premises will have access to a high speed broadband connection. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention.
My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area. That procurement process is now at an advanced stage.
One bidder, eir, publicly withdrew from the procurement process on 30 January. While this is regrettable, it is a commercial decision for eir to make. The specialist NBP procurement team will continue to engage intensively with all relevant stakeholders, including the enet/sse consortium, to ensure the earliest possible achievement of the Government’s objective of providing reliable high quality, high speed broadband to all premises in Ireland. When the procurement process reaches a satisfactory conclusion for Government, a contract will be awarded and the network rollout will commence.
Delivering high speed broadband to citizens across Ireland remains a firm commitment of mine and this Government.
In the interim, practical initiatives will continue to be addressed through the work of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce to address obstacles and improve connectivity in respect of existing and future mobile phone and broadband services. This includes the identification and tackling of mobile phone and broadband coverage blackspots. The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and the Department of Rural and Community Development worked with a pilot group of local authorities, including Louth County Council, to identify the issues associated with mapping local Blackspots.
This pilot exercise is complete, with all local authorities, through their Broadband Officers, now being asked to map priority local Blackspots and identify infrastructure that could potentially be used to provide additional coverage on an economic basis.
The next stage in this process will be for local authorities and the operators to meet at local level to discuss how best to tackle the Blackspots identified, and this process is expected to start in the next month.
