Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government's statement of priorities for the period 2014 to 2016 reaffirms our commitment to delivering State-led broadband intervention in rural areas. The Government's national broadband plan aims to change radically the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring high-speed broadband is available to all citizens and businesses. This is being achieved through measures designed to accelerate commercial investment and the development of State-led intervention for non-commercial areas.

Since publication of the plan, investments by the commercial sector have accelerated with commercial operators investing, or committing to invest, approximately €2.5 billion in networks and services. The recent announcement of a joint venture between ESB and Vodafone will result in further deployment of high-speed networks in 50 towns, providing the possibility of direct fibre connectivity for 500,000 premises.

The Government has committed to an ambitious plan which involves ensuring the delivery of broadband services to those parts of rural Ireland that will not be served by the commercial sector. Services will be delivered over a network, with fibre at its foundation, which is sustainable and guarantees a quality broadband service to rural consumers in future. This will be the key element of an intervention strategy that will ensure all citizens and businesses can access high-speed broadband services regardless of where they live.

Under EU state aid guidelines, member states cannot intervene where commercial investors have plans to roll out services. A comprehensive mapping exercise is under way in my Department to identify areas that require State intervention. An initial list has already been identified and includes over 1,100 locations throughout the country.

A stakeholder consultation on the implementation of the State-led intervention has recently been launched and will feed in to the mapping exercise, which I expect to conclude in the autumn. It is my intention to conduct a full public consultation on the outcome of the mapping process and the proposed intervention strategy. EU state aid clearance will be required. This will be followed by a detailed procurement process with a view to commencing the roll-out of high-speed broadband services as quickly as possible.

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It is my intention to progress this complex and ambitious project as a key priority. I believe it will address current connectivity challenges in a sustainable and meaningful way and will ensure that rural Ireland can enjoy comparable levels of quality and service to those experienced in urban areas.

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