Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 13 together.

The Government's national broadband plan, NBP, aims to ensure that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high-speed broadband service which will stimulate businesses and communities in villages and towns across Ireland. The NBP is a national plan and aims to connect all premises in Ireland including those on our offshore islands, 66 of which are inhabited and which have a total population of 9,000. The national broadband plan is being achieved through private investment by commercial telecommunications companies and State intervention in areas where commercial investment has not been fully demonstrated.

The commercial telecommunications sector has invested more than €2 billion in the past four years in upgrading and modernising networks which support the provision of high-speed broadband and mobile telecoms services. This investment is continuing and approximately 1.3 million premises in Ireland can now get high-speed broadband of at least 30 Mbps. I will cite some examples. Virgin Media currently provides services of up to 360 Mbps, which are passing more than 750,000 premises. Eir’s broadband roll-out of services of up to 100 Mbps has passed 1.3 million premises across Ireland. SIRO, an initiative made possible by Oireachtas legislation introduced by my Department - I remember supporting the Bill in question at the time - is rolling out fibre to the home in  towns across Ireland. To date, 17 towns and 30,000 premises have been passed by SIRO. Wireless operators have developed new technologies capable of delivering speeds of 100 Mbps. Mobile operators are also rolling out 4G services across Ireland. This is significantly enhancing the mobile broadband experience.

The high-speed broadband map, available at www.broadband.gov.ie, shows the extent of the State intervention area and the areas targeted for commercial services. There are approximately 2.3 million premises in the State. Of these, up to 1.6 million premises are in the commercial area, which is marked in blue on the map, and more than 750,000 premises are in the State intervention area, which is marked in amber on the map. On 5 July 2016, I announced that my Department had also identified that up to an additional 170,000 premises, which are currently marked in blue on the high-speed broadband map, are unlikely to get access to services. My Department is conducting further analysis to identify these additional premises, with a view to ensuring they can get a connection either by including them in the formal procurement process or through an alternative mechanism. This work will conclude in the coming weeks and will be reflected in a further update to the high-speed broadband map.

The Department is now in a formal procurement process to select a company or companies which will roll out a new high-speed broadband network to all of the premises in the intervention area, which covers 100,000 km of road network and 96% of the land area of Ireland. Intensive dialogue with bidders is continuing. Approximately 150 hours of dialogue have taken place and more than 2,000 pages of contract documentation has been provided to the bidders. The three bidders have indicated that they are proposing a predominantly fibre to the home solution. Householders and businesses may get speeds not just of 30 Mbps but potentially up to 1,000 Mbps, with businesses potentially availing of symmetrical upload and download speeds.

Earlier this year, before I came into office, the Department announced it would be June 2017 before contracts were awarded under the national broadband plan. The bidders in the process have recently indicated that they may need more time to conclude the procurement process. The timing of each stage of the procurement continues to be dependent on a range of factors, including the complexities that may be encountered by the procurement team and bidders during the procurement process. Bidders need adequate time to prepare detailed proposals and their final formal bids and get the relevant shareholder and funding approvals at key stages of the process. I do not propose to comment any further at this juncture given the sensitivity of discussions in the procurement process.

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