Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 November 2018
853. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the national broadband plan; when the project will be rolled out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45536/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra854. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when high speed broadband will be available to households and businesses across County Mayo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45537/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 853 and 854 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. In 2012, less than 700,000, or 30% of all 2.3 million Irish premises had access to high speed broadband. When this Government came into office this had risen to 52%. Today, 74% of premises can access high speed broadband services. This is being achieved via a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention.
In April 2017 my Department 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 areas 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 my Department in April 2017.
According to the latest map data for Q3 2018, there are some 83,500 premises in Mayo. More than 37,000 (44%) of these premises fall within the AMBER area and will be served under the State led Intervention. Some 37,000 (44%) of premises fall within a BLUE area - where commercial operators are currently delivering or plan to deliver this service. More than 9,500 (12%) fall within a LIGHT BLUE are and fall to be served by eir's planned rural deployment. This data has been verified by my Department.
The procurement process to appoint a bidder for the State intervention network is now at the final stage, with evaluation ongoing of the final tender submission received on 18 September. The Taoiseach has asked Mr Peter Smyth, the independent process auditor to the NBP procurement to review the process. Mr. Smyth will submit a report to the Taoiseach and to me as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. This review is taking place in parallel to the evaluation being carried out by the Department’s procurement team on the final tender.
Under a Commitment Agreement signed with my Department in April 2017, eir is in the process of passing 300,000 predominantly rural homes with high speed broadband. According to data for Q3 2018 submitted by eir to my Department the company has passed almost 210,000 premises nationwide as part of its ongoing deployment. This data is to be published on my Department’s website shortly.
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.
