Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy stated, in some cases the speeds promised are not delivered, for which there are technical and complex explanations. This is one of the reasons we have gone for a fibre solution. The roll-out of a network the foundation of which is a fibre solution means that the matter raised by the Deputy will not be an issue in the future. Fibre has the capacity to meet any reasonable demand made on it and is the Rolls-Royce of solutions. The industry is investing. When I speak about the roll-out of the fibre solution, I am speaking about the State-led intervention. Similar considerations apply to the eircom eFibre project. The industry is investing approximately €2 billion. Eircom is increasing its figures from 1 million to 1.4 million homes and from 70 Mb to 100 Mb. UPC speeds are increasing from 100 Mb to 200 Mb. As the Deputy knows, the ESB has done business with Vodafone and this joint venture is being constructed. It is a fibre solution using the electricity infrastructure. These are radical measures which will address the point raised by the Deputy.

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