Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The objective of the one-stop shop commitment in the next generation broadband policy paper "Gateway to a Knowledge Ireland" is to facilitate telecommunications network operators in gaining access to ducting that exists along publicly-owned energy, transport and other infrastructure to help reduce the cost of fibre roll-out for backhaul networks.

Government policy is to make available all State-owned infrastructure on an open-access basis in so far as is possible. I do not favour exclusive deals being done whereby one telecommunications company secures exclusive access to a particular State-owned network.

An important step in delivering on this commitment is the Communications Regulation (Premium Rate Services and Electronic Communications Infrastructure) Act 2010, which provides that the National Roads Authority, NRA, is the single point of contact for access to ducts on motorways and other national roads. This means that telecommunications service providers no longer must approach individual local authorities when seeking such access.

The legislation also allows the NRA to make a scheme, which will permit it to impose charges for the use of ducts subject to the approval of the Minister for Transport following consultation with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, and the Minister for Finance. I am satisfied that this will provide an open and transparent way of setting access pricing for NRA infrastructure.

I understand the NRA has engaged expertise to assist in developing this new business and that it has been meeting with service providers as part of this process. I very much welcome this development as it is an example of what I set out to achieve in facilitating open access to State-owned ducting. Such open access is a clear policy objective of mine.

The NRA model is a significant advance and I will seek to extend this approach to other suitable State-owned infrastructure.

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