Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
233. Deputy Michael Collins asked the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications his views on the national broadband plan mapping exercise for the intervention area performed by a company (details supplied); if his Department has carried out an analysis of the new network being deployed by a company; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35317/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn July 2019, in order to finalise the mapping exercise required under the State Aid Guidelines on Broadband, my Department conducted a consultation in relation to the High Speed Broadband Map. This consultation sought submissions from operators who wished to have their existing high speed broadband networks or plans to invest in high speed broadband networks over the following 7 years to be included on the Department’s High Speed Broadband Map. This consultation was part of a significant engagement with industry initiated in July 2013 where my Department engaged in an extensive process of mapping and monitoring broadband availability in Ireland. This has been supported by a number of public consultations conducted from 2013 to 2019. As part of the 2019 consultation, over 180 submissions were received from a variety of stakeholders including 30 from large and small telecoms operators with the remainder from local authority broadband officers and members of the public. All operator submissions were fully assessed against my Department’s published assessment criteria and operators were informed of the outcome of this assessment in November 2019. Following the conclusion of this consultation, a detailed report was issued to Digital Forge detailing the outcome of the assessment relating to their network coverage. Following subsequent correspondence from Digital Forge, my Department reconfirmed to Digital Forge that it was satisfied with the outcome of the assessment and the findings therein.Separately my Department continues to engage with industry to monitor developments in the market and has engaged with SpaceX on the development of their proposed Starlink network. The development of new solutions such as Low Earth Orbit satellite solutions is something that my Department monitors on an ongoing basis. While advances have been made in these satellite based solutions, concerns remain on a number of aspects such as the likely speeds that will be delivered, where the service will be available and the price of services to consumers.
