Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 March 2021
114. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the progress to date with the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan; the expected percentage take-up of this broadband per house or business passed; the current expected cost of the plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1011/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraDesign work on the National Broadband Plan is complete or ongoing in target townlands across every county in Ireland with over 186,000 premises surveyed as of 3 March. This survey work is feeding into detailed designs for each deployment area and the first fibre to the home connections are connected and in a test and trial phase in Carrigaline, Co Cork. They will be subject to technical testing and validation prior to a wider release of the area. In the coming months retailers will be able to resell the service and householders in these areas will be able to order high speed broadband provided via the NBI network. A test and trial phase in Cavan and Galway will also commence shortly.
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 3 March, 287 BCP sites have been installed by NBI and the high speed broadband service will be switched on through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for publicly accessible locations and the Department of Education for schools.
School BCPs will be provided with high speed broadband for educational use only and 106 schools have been connected as of 3 March. An acceleration of this aspect of the project has been announced which will see some 679 primary schools connected to high speed broadband by end-2022, well ahead of the original target delivery timeframe of 2026. Further details are available on the NBI website at https://nbi.ie/primary-schools-list/.
Recent indicators from commercial deployment suggest a high level of take up can be expected of the high speed broadband services that will be provided by the NBP. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance and value of high speed broadband across Ireland and it is expected that future demand for remote working and other services will further drive early take up of services provided over the NBP network.
The maximum possible cost to the State will be €2.7bn over 25 years. This includes up to €500m for conditional/contingency subsidy and approximately €100m in VAT. The Revenue Commissioners have determined that VAT will not apply to core subsidy payments to NBI hence the reduction in the overall project cost of about €270m to approximately €2.7bn as compared to €2.977 billion when the contract was signed.
