Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Os rud é go bhfuil an Taoiseach as láthair, tá mé ag freagairt na ceisteanna seo thar a cheann agus thar ceann an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Kehoe.

The information requested by the Deputy regarding the number of small and medium enterprises which do not have access to fibre-based broadband across the State is not available. The CSO collects data on six different types of connections to the Internet for enterprises, as required by Eurostat under regulation, namely dial-up modem, broadband connection, DSL broadband, other fixed internet connection, mobile broadband using at least 3G technology, and other mobile broadband connection. As such, the data collected do not make a distinction between fibre and non-fibre broadband.

The table to be circulated with the Official Report outlines the findings of the types of connections to the Internet for small and medium-sized enterprises in the State in 2012. Enterprises may also have multiple connection types to the Internet.

The survey on e-commerce and ICT used to compile these data is a sample of enterprises with ten or more employees. The survey does not cover what the CSO term as micro-enterprises, which are those enterprises employing fewer than ten persons. For the purposes of the survey, the CSO classifies small enterprises as those having between ten and 49 employees and classify medium-sized enterprises as those having between 50 and 249 employees. The most recent survey on e-commerce and ICT was the 2012 survey which was published in December 2012. The 2013 survey is due to be published in December 2013.

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