Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 15 November 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection
Roll-out and Delivery of Broadband in Rural Areas: Discussion
Mr. Fergal Mulligan:
At the moment, there is a 33% year-on-year increase in subscriptions. At the moment these guys are doing 3,500 a month. We understand between Eir and SIRO, there are 8,000 done a month. That is 12,000 a month getting connected with fibre. Fibre is now the dominant connection technology. It has surpassed cable, surpassed mediacell and every other technology. As of today, about 620,000 people are connected to fibre. In 2017, that figure was about 20,000. It is a phenomenal change.
To come back to the national school in County Roscommon, I am surprised a blue area is still there and we have not been told about it. I am taking that on today because we have changed thousands of premises that were blue into amber, as members know, so we will get to that straight away. If there is fibre on either side of it, that should be sorted very quickly. In fairness to Mr. Hendrick, he cannot address that, because if it is blue, it is not his problem. I will try to make it his problem next week, I promise.
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