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

The national broadband plan, NBP, aims to deliver high-speed broadband to all businesses and households in Ireland through a combination of commercial investment and State intervention in areas where commercial investment has not been fully demonstrated. The NBP has been a catalyst for an increased level of investment by commercial operators.  Since the publication of the NBP, investment by the commercial telecommunications sector has been considerable with over €2.5 billion spent in upgrading and modernising networks.  As a result, today, approximately 1.4 million premises or 61% of premises in Ireland can get high speed broadband of a minimum of 30 megabits per second.  Significant further investment is anticipated over the next two years.

My Department is running a procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll out a high speed broadband network within the State intervention area. Finalisation of the intervention area is the next key step in the procurement process. I expect this to happen in the coming weeks and it will allow bidders to prepare for the next stage of the procurement process, which is the submission by bidders of detailed solutions.  After the submission of detailed solutions, the procurement process will move to the final tenders and contract award stages.

A number of initiatives have been developed to speed up the roll-out of high-speed broadband. My Department will engage with winning bidder or bidders on the best roll-out strategy in order to target areas of particularly poor service, business needs and-or high demand and a prioritisation programme will be put in place in consultation with the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Two regional action groups have been established to work with local authorities, local enterprise offices and other relevant agencies to help accelerate broadband roll-out in rural Ireland.

The mobile phone and broadband task force has moved to the implementation phase.  The implementation programme on mobile phone and broadband access identifies 19 of the 40 task force actions as areas where immediate and direct action by Departments and State agencies can ensure accelerated benefits to consumers. Each of the actions and implementation programme has its own timeframe for delivery. A copy of the report is available on my Department's website.

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