Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
2072. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the timeframe for broadband services to become available in counties Cavan and Monaghan under the national broadband plan; the status of fibre installation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34048/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra2073. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of household and businesses waiting on the roll out of the national broadband plan in counties Cavan, Monaghan and Meath and nationally, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34061/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 2072 and 2073 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. Today, seven out of ten of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. By 2020, nine out of ten premises will have access to a high speed broadband connection. This is being achieved via a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention.
In April 2017 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.
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 ongoing 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 roll out high speed broadband to 300,000 premises as part of a Commitment Agreement signed with me in April 2017.
The approximate number of premises which fall into each of these categories in the counties referred to by the Deputy is outlined in the following table.
|
County |
Total |
Premises within the NBP Intervention Area |
Premises within Commercial Operator’s Area |
Premises within eir planned rural deployment |
|
Cavan |
42,000 |
40% (17,000) |
48% (20,000) |
12% (5,000) |
|
Monaghan |
33,000 |
47% (15,500) |
47% (15,500) |
6% (2,000) |
|
Meath |
85,500 |
23% (20,000) |
71% (60,500) |
6% (5,000) |
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 in its final stages.
In April 2017, I signed a Commitment Agreement with eir in relation to its plans to provide high speed broadband to approximately 300,000 premises in rural areas on a commercial basis. Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available at http://fibrerollout.ie. A copy of the Commitment Agreement is available on my Department’s website www.dccae.gov.ie.
As of March 2018, eir passed over 3,200 premises in Cavan, 3,000 premises in Monaghan and 9,700 premises in Meath with further premises to be passed as part of the rollout in these counties.
For those premises currently awaiting access to high speed broadband, 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.
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. The Department of Rural and Community Development maintain a list of broadband officers, a link to which is available on my Department's website at https://www.dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/communications/topics/Broadband/national-broadband-plan/Pages/NBP-Information-Leaflets.aspx .
