Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter for the private sector. Broadband service providers operate in a fully liberalised market regulated, where appropriate, by the independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.

Nevertheless, the widespread provision of broadband services is a major priority for the Government. In this context, the primary role of the Government is to formulate regulatory and infrastructure policies to facilitate the provision of high quality telecommunications services, by competing private sector service providers.

Broadband penetration has increased significantly in recent years. Penetration levels have increased to 698,000 subscribers which, by OECD measures, is the equivalent of 16.48% of the population. This compares to less than 1% in 2002.

As a result, Ireland has improved its position internationally and Government action through provision of an optimal regulatory regime and targeted infrastructural investment will continue to support this performance. In the latter context, the State has undertaken initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage. These include providing grant aid under the recently concluded group broadband scheme and investment in metropolitan area networks, known as MANs.

There are still some parts of the country where the private sector will be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband services. Accordingly, the procurement process for a national broadband scheme is under way. The national broadband scheme will provide broadband services to areas that are currently unserved and will ensure that all reasonable requests for broadband in unserved areas are met.

The first phase of the procurement process, the pre-qualification questionnaire phase, is now complete and four candidates have pre-qualified. As my Department indicated on 2 September 2007, the four candidates in alphabetical order are: BT Communications Ireland Limited consortium; Eircom Limited; Hutchinson 3G Ireland Limited and IFA-Motorola consortium.

The next phase of the procurement process involves inviting candidates to participate in a competitive dialogue process. My Department is anticipating that the national broadband strategy contract will be awarded in the second quarter of 2008, with roll out of the services due to begin as soon as possible thereafter. This timeline is subject to negotiations with candidates during the competitive dialogue phase of the procurement process.

The broadband product to be provided under the national broadband scheme will be broadly equivalent to the tariffs and products typically available on the Irish market. The most appropriate mechanism to achieve this aim will be decided during the competitive dialogue process.

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