Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The widespread provision of broadband services is a priority for the Government. My Department has undertaken a number of initiatives to address the provision of broadband throughout the country, including the mid-west region. These initiatives include the national broadband scheme, NBS; the metropolitan area networks, MANs, programme; the broadband for schools programme, which is being evolved into a 100 megabits per second, Mbps, to post-primary schools programme; and the now concluded group broadband scheme, GBS.

Under the NBS the Department entered into a contract with "3", a Hutchison Whampoa company, for the delivery of broadband services to rural areas, many of which do not currently have any broadband service. The company 3 is required to provide services to all residences and businesses that are within the NBS coverage area and which seek a service. The NBS will provide broadband services in many areas in the mid-west, including north Tipperary.

The company 3 is progressing its network roll-out and services have gone live in a number of areas. The entire NBS area will be covered by September 2010.

Under the MANs programme, 86 MANs covering 92 towns, including Roscrea and Templemore, have been completed and e|net has been appointed as the management services entity, MSE, to manage, maintain and operate the MANs. The MANs are fibre based, open access networks, which will facilitate the provision of high speed broadband. The take up of this infrastructure will depend on the level of demand in particular towns but it does represent a valuable enhancement of the infrastructure in relevant towns.

It is expected that the Roscrea and Templemore MANs will be taken over by e-net in quarter one of 2010. Between now and the time that the Roscrea and Templemore MANs are handed over to e-net, both MANs are available to service providers through an interim MSE which was appointed to manage and operate the phase II MANs. All the services providers using the MANs are aware of these interim arrangements.

The lighting of both MANs and interconnection to other networks is a matter for e-net and the relevant services provider under the terms of the MSE concession agreement. The Government strongly supports investment in high speed backhaul networks by service providers. I am also advancing the one stop shop proposal which, by facilitating access to State-owned ducting, should improve the quality and speed of backhaul networks.

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