Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter in the first instance for private sector companies operating in a fully liberalised market, regulated by the independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. The role of Government is to implement regulatory and infrastructure policies to facilitate the provision of affordable, high quality telecommunications services by competing private sector service providers.

The Communications Regulation (Amendment) Bill, which was published this month, is primarily designed to strengthen the regulatory framework for the electronic communications sector. The Bill will enable ComReg to achieve one of its primary functions, the promotion of competition, thereby leading to better and more competitively priced telecommunications services for consumers. This Bill is on the priority list of legislation for enactment by the Government during the current term of the Dáil. I expect to bring it before the House shortly.

The Government has also taken the initiative to address market failure through investment in the construction of the high speed, open access metropolitan area networks, MANs, while also grant aiding rural broadband projects under the group broadband scheme. However, despite Government and private investment in broadband, there are parts of the country where the private sector is unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband connectivity. It is planned to address the question of availability of broadband to the remaining 10%-15% via a new scheme which, when it is fully rolled out, will ensure that all reasonable requests for broadband from houses and premises in rural areas are met. A steering group comprising representatives of my Department and ComReg is finalising the outline of the scheme. This new scheme will supersede the group broadband scheme.

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