Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2023
177. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to outline the steps for a new Eircode located within the National Broadband Plan intervention area to be connected by NBI; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48644/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn December 2022, my Department published Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy which supports the ambition outlined in the National Digital Strategy and sets out a number of ambitious targets, including that:
• all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028
• all populated areas will be covered by 5G no later than 2030, and
• digital connectivity will be delivered to all schools and broadband connection points by 2023
These targets will be achieved through commercial operators investing in their networks, complemented by the State’s National Broadband Plan intervention. When taken together, all premises in the State will have access to high-speed broadband in every part of the country no matter how remote.
The National Broadband Plan intervention contract provides for the roll out of a high speed and future-proofed broadband network to primarily rural areas. The intervention area covers over 1.1 million people living and working in over 560,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with some 679 schools.
NBI also advise that as of 27th October 2023, 191,146 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. 58,332 premises are already connected to the NBP high-speed broadband network.
Furthermore, as of 31st October 7,305 premises in County Mayo have now been passed by NBI with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection, with 2,127 premises now connected.
In terms of new premises built within the intervention area, these will first be identified by NBI through the quarterly GeoDirectory database releases. NBI will then need to assess each new build to determine if any additional work is required to enable their premises for fibre, and then schedule these works as necessary. Once the works are completed and premises is made ready for service, the resident should then be in a position to place an order for fibre broadband from any retail service provider operating in the area.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Mayo and can be monitored via nbi.ie/reps. A county update can be selected to provide the overall number of premises in the Intervention Area, the overall NBP investment in the county, the number of premises passed and connected to date and the status of each of the Deployment Areas with the anticipated date for connection over the lifetime of the project. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.
Commercial operators’ fibre rollouts are progressing at pace. Open eir have already passed over 34,200 homes and businesses in Mayo with gigabit services, with plans to pass a further c.13,800 homes and businesses over the next 2 – 3 years, bringing their total fibre-based investment in the county to over €26m. Other commercial operators are also continuing to increase their network footprint right across country, with SIRO recently passing over 520,000 premises for full fibre and is on track to reach 700,000 premises by 2026. While Virgin Media have passed over 69,000 premises, and have announced plans to bring 2Gbps services to 345,000 premises, through an upgrade and expansion of their own network, and to bring gigabit broadband upgrades to 1 million premises.
Recent ComReg data shows that Quarter 2, 2023 saw a 7.4% increase in fibre broadband subscriptions compared to the first 3 months of the year, and a 33.7% increase when compared to Quarter 2 of 2022. This demonstrates that take-up of fibre connectivity for homes and businesses is increasing massively as it is deployed to areas where it had previously been unavailable. The same ComReg data also indicates that c.40% of homes and businesses throughout the State now have access to gigabit services through either fibre (576,856) or cable (359,669) infrastructure.
