Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 April 2023
78. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will provide an update on the rollout of the national broadband plan to include the number of premises passed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19763/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraNot for the first time I will ask the Minister of State for an update on the roll-out of the national broadband plan, the number of premises passed, and if he could make a statement on the matter. In fairness, I will be looking to see if there has been any movement in regard to an acceleration of the process, reducing it from seven years to six years and whether we have finalised deadlines and timelines for all those people, even those who are going to be at the tail end of it. I will deal with some mitigation questions later.
I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for this question which I am very happy to answer.
The Government of Ireland's national digital strategy, NDS, Harnessing Digital - The Digital Ireland Framework, is helping to drive the digital transition across the economy and society. Its ambition is to make connectivity available to everyone, including through the national broadband plan, remote working hubs and broadband connection points, with a target of having all Irish households and businesses covered by a gigabit network not later than 2028 and all populated areas covered by 5G not later than 2030.
The latest quarterly key data report, QKDR, published by ComReg on 8 March 2023 shows that fixed broadband subscriptions increased to 1.61 million, a 2.2% increase year on year. Of these, 57% have download speeds greater than 100 Mbps.
The national broadband plan, NBP, is being delivered by National Broadband Ireland, NBI, under a contract, signed in November 2019 by the former Minister, Deputy Bruton, which came into effect in January 2020. The contract provides for the roll-out of a high-speed and future-proofed broadband network within the intervention area, which covers 1.1 million people, 560,000 premises, 100,000 businesses and farms, and 679 schools. I am advised by NBI that, as of 14 April 2023 more than 147,600 premises can order or pre-order a high-speed broadband connection across 26 counties. Of those, 135,500 premises passed are available for immediate connection.
Eir has committed to rolling out fibre to some 1.9 million premises. SIRO has passed more than 470,000 premises with gigabit services and has recently announced plans to extend its network to an additional 300,000 premises. Virgin Media plans to bring gigabit broadband upgrades to 1 million premises. The network operators and telecom service providers across the State continue to invest in their networks.
If I heard the Minister of State correctly, 147,000 can pre-order and 135,000 premises were passed. I assume that those numbers fall within the updated timelines for delivery, in particular as regards premises passed. I hope there are no hiccups in the future, as there had been previously, accepting the issues in regard to Covid, etc.
From my own discussions with NBI, my understanding is that what is a seven-year programme can be accelerated to a six-year programme. There are some legal issues that are being dealt with in court currently, but it involves Eir, either with the Eir make-ready product or it would mean NBI being given the capacity to do some of those works. Could we get an update on where that conversation is? Have we got an outline and timeline for everybody at this point in time, or will we soon, even if they are at the end of the seven years?
It is a seven-year project. It started in 2020 and it will end at the end of 2026. That is the seven years. If you are in year six or seven, you are probably not happy and you would prefer to be in earlier years. There was a move towards acceleration at the start, then the project went slow during the pandemic and for various reasons it then began to accelerate. We are now passing our targets. We are now at the rate where by the end of 2026 everybody will be passed. We are back on the original target. The speed of deployment accelerated greatly. I would say that by the end of next year, half of all homes in the intervention area, in other words, half the homes in rural Ireland, will have access to gigabit broadband, which is unbelievable. This is purely through the NBI service.
Meanwhile, 150,000 homes in Ireland per year are connecting to fibre. I do not mean being passed; I mean getting connections. Of those, 30,000 or 20% are from NBI. In other words, they are in the non-commercial intervention area.
I went to NBI’s board meeting recently. I meet with all the commercial operators and will be meeting with Virgin very soon. We are continuing to have conversations about how we can accelerate further and have the deployment done in less than seven years. Shortly I will go to the mobile phone and broadband task force meeting in Athlone to meet with public and private providers.
I ask if we could just get the connection rate in relation to NBI, accepting that it is resellers who sell the product to clients and customers. The Minister of State pre-empted what I was going to ask. It is about the work ComReg has done in relation to making assessments. Some people will be at the tail end of delivery and we need to offer them the alternatives easily. The mobile phone and broadband task force could probably do the heavy lifting on that. That is a vital piece of work we could do, as well as ensuring that acceleration happens. I welcome that we are looking at bypassing the targets as they exist but we started from behind and if there was any possibility of speeding this up, that would be absolutely necessary. Will the Minister of State provide the information to people on what alternatives they can use and make sure they have an adequate timeline even now for delivery?
Our national strategy is for everybody in Ireland to have gigabit Internet by 2028. On the current timelines, everybody in rural Ireland will have it by 2026. Our rural deployment is going well. I am responsible for broadband across the whole of Ireland and not just the intervention area. I need to make sure we are not leaving black-spot islands in our urban areas. Just because you are in an urban area, it does not mean you should get broadband two years later than in a rural area. With that in mind, I have been examining policy options for completing urban black spots. I am looking at the copper switch off plans ComReg has been examining and at the universal service obligation for broadband which I brought in in the communication regulations Bill recently. We will have to determine the regulatory mechanism we use to oblige broadband providers to provide their service to everybody so they do not leave cul-de-sacs uncompleted in urban areas. There will be a number of trials and pilots of different technologies to achieve that and we have to do it within state aid rules.
I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply and commend him on the progress being made. Has his Department or any body across the public service created a vision for broadband technology to deliver public services more effectively and reduce the carbon footprint of providing those services? One of the neglected areas is creating a vision for how rural Ireland, in particular, can be transformed by this technology.
Recently we completed research into the benefits of broadband in rural Ireland. Analysys Mason completed it for us to check we are meeting our cost-benefit. The cost-benefit of the project has greatly improved since it was first evaluated. It clearly was, in retrospect, the right thing to do.
It has the following effect, in simple terms. A rural village would previously have hoped for jobs through the erection of a factory. Now people are coming back with jobs and money, living near their families in that village and providing services, and cafés are starting up in them, because of the fibre. It is a new way to bring jobs, economy and population back to rural Ireland. Every county in Ireland, according to the CSO, is increasing in population. It is a vital tool for balanced regional development. It is revitalising rural towns around the country. Estate agents will say the number one feature to sell a home in rural Ireland is whether it has a fibre connection because that determines whether one can pay the mortgage.
