Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 November 2020
66. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications the geographical areas in which the national broadband plan is presently rolling out infrastructure and household connections; and when a location (details supplied) will have household infrastructure connections commenced. [34397/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie, shows the areas in Cork which will be included in the National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led intervention as well as areas targeted by commercial operators. The map is colour coded and searchable by address and Eircode. - Premises in the AMBER area will be provided with high speed broadband through the State led Intervention, the contract for which was signed in November last with National Broadband Ireland (NBI).
- The BLUE area represents those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services.
The NBP network will offer users a high speed broadband service with a minimum download speed of 500Mbps from the outset. This represents an increase from the 150Mbps committed to under the Contract. The deployment plan forecasts premises passed in all counties within the first 2 years and over 90% of premises in the State having access to high speed broadband within the next four years.
As of 27 October, design work is complete or on-going in target townlands across 25 counties and steady progress is being made with over 118,000 premises surveyed to date. This activity is increasing week on week and NBI expects to have completed some 120,000 surveys by the end of the year. This activity involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area. This is informing design solutions for provision of the fibre network. This detailed design is then used to initiate the ‘make ready’ project with eir for the area, where eir ensure any poles and ducts being reused are fit for purpose. It is also used to initiate works with the subcontractors deploying the actual fibre in the area. The laying of fibre should commence shortly with the first fibre to the home connections expected around December this year in Carrigaline, Co Cork. In Cork surveys have commenced in the areas of Midelton, Cullen, Templebreedy, Carrigaline, Ballyfolye, Douglas, Ballyphehane, Glasheen, Mahon, Kilpatrick.
NBI provides a facility for any premises within the AMBER area to register their interest in being provided with deployment updates through its website (https://nbi.ie/map/).
Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) are a key element of the NBP providing high speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll out of the fibre to the home network. As of 23 October, some 179 BCP sites have been installed by NBI and 59 of these are now connected with high speed publicly accessible broadband, through a service provider contract managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development. It is anticipated that 275 BCP sites will be connected by the end of the year. Further details can be found at https://nbi.ie/bcp-locations/.
BCPs at Aubane, Mealagh Valley, Glash, Courtbrack, Sherkin Island, Ballindangan, Lissvard Community Centre and Bere Island Heritage Centre are scheduled to be connected in the coming months. A number of schools in Co Cork including Clogagh and Ballycroneen National Schools will be connected to high speed broadband, for educational access only, as part of the BCP initiative. My Department will work with Department of Education and Skills to prioritise the remaining schools to be connected over the term of the NBP.
