Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

A total of 58 of the 60 phase II MANs, which provide state-of-the-art, fibre, open access networks to 64 towns across the country are now completed. Construction of the Edenderry network will be completed this year while the Kinsale network will be constructed in parallel with planned main drainage works next year.

All completed phase II networks are being managed, maintained and operated on an interim basis by the technical services firm Magnum Opus on behalf of my Department. Magnum Opus will manage the phase II MANs until such time as a management services entity is engaged for the phase II MANs — MSE 2.

The engagement of MSE 2 is currently the subject of a procurement process, which is expected to conclude before the end of March 2009.

The widespread provision of broadband services continues to be a priority for the Government. In that regard my Department has undertaken a variety of initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage. Previous initiatives such as the Global Crossing deal, the group broadband scheme, grant aiding ESBT, and MANs phase I, as well as current initiatives such as Project Kelvin, the national broadband scheme and MANs phase II, have all underpinned the pro-competition policies that are now bearing fruit.

Policies built on the cornerstone of competition provide the investment certainty that the electronic communications market needs. Service providers fully understand that Government intervention, by way of funding infrastructure, will only occur where the market has failed to bridge a digital divide.

Such policy and intervention initiatives, including phase II of the MANs programme have helped to facilitate the development of the market to the point where over 60% of Irish households now have a broadband connection. ComReg's quarterly report for Q3 2008 states that 61.1% of those households have a connection in the speed category of 2 -10 mbps. At the end of Q1 2008, 83% of Irish SMEs had a broadband connection. Over 70% of those SMEs, according to ComReg's report, have a connection in the speed category of 2-10 mbps.

It is important to consider the MANs in the context of these market developments. They have provided all service providers with access to local markets and encouraged the roll-out of DSL in the relevant towns. They have assisted the IDA in the attraction of foreign direct investment and, more recently, are being considered by mobile broadband operators who wish to deepen the fibre in their networks to cater for the rapidly increasing demand for bandwidth by mobile users.

While information regarding the revenue generated from the phase II MANs is commercially sensitive and I do not propose to release details of the revenue generated at this time, I do believe that the MANs will play an ever increasing, and crucially important, role in our competitive electronic communications market.

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