Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy will be pleased to note that our international costs for broadband are the lowest of anywhere in Europe and that our domestic costs approximate the mid-European average.

With regard to our targets, I set a target of 400,000 broadband subscribers for the end of this year. In late 2004, there were just over 100,000 broadband subscribers. Many people said we would not achieve this, but I am delighted to inform Opposition Deputies that we will achieve that target quite comfortably and will be well on the way to 500,000 subscribers by the end of 2007.

We have put regulations in place with regard to local loop unbundling, line rental costs and number portability. We have also passed legislation giving responsibility in this area to an independent regulator, ComReg. The regulator must work within the law and the Constitution and cannot make unilateral decisions that have no basis in law or it will find itself in trouble. We are moving to strengthen ComReg's powers, but this will not allow Ministers on a whim to direct private companies to roll out broadband faster. What we are trying to do is to create a climate that will make it commercially attractive for providers to roll out broadband and put in place stronger regulation that will enable ComReg to try to speed up its provision. We also hope to be in a position to provide the 10% to 15% of people throughout the country who are outside the loop with broadband, either through group or MANs schemes.

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