Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The consultation paper on next generation broadband, which I launched in July 2008, proposed the establishment of a one-stop shop to provide service providers with flexible and open access to existing and future State-owned infrastructure for telecommunications services. Trade over digital networks is becoming increasingly important and access to high-speed broadband networks will be necessary if indigenous and foreign-owned enterprises in the regions are to prosper in the smart economy. Leveraging publicly owned ducting has the capacity to reduce costs significantly for private sector investors in rolling out fibre-optic cabling to the regions and thereby improve competition in the electronic communications market.

The idea of a one-stop shop received a largely positive response in the consultation process on the NGB draft paper and contributors recognised the potential of utilising State assets to provide fibre networks in the regions. Officials from my Department have worked with the relevant State agencies in the energy and transport sectors to compile a database of the supply of publicly owned infrastructure which can currently or potentially support high-speed broadband networks. Following this process, maps were compiled which provide an indicative depiction of the supply and gaps in relevant State infrastructure. The maps also include the metropolitan area networks, an important component of broadband connectivity in the regions. These maps will be included in the final version of the next generation broadband policy paper, which will be launched shortly.

These maps indicate that there is an extensive network of State infrastructure which has the potential to improve our broadband infrastructure significantly. However, the readiness of the State infrastructure to be utilised as telecommunications infrastructure varies greatly between the different agencies. For example, some agencies are already making their infrastructure available while others have not done so or have no local infrastructure in place. Another factor is that some publicly-owned infrastructure may be subject to existing contractual arrangements and may not be currently available on an open access basis. Nevertheless, I am determined to move on the process speedily so that optimal utilisation of these assets can be achieved. The next step in developing the one-stop shop is to decide on the best operational model. I expect to make a decision on this in the summer.

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