Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. What Deputy Ó Cuív would like to be clear on is the timeframe for the announcement. I know we have addressed some of this in previous questions but it is imperative that we reach a decision without delay. Some premises have received broadband from private operators as a result of the initiation of the NBP. Notwithstanding that, there is still real concern in many parts of rural Ireland as a result of Eir rolling out a service to an additional 80,000 units and the proposals coming for fixed wireless from Imagine that gaps left in the middle will not covered in the longer term.

There is very considerable concern emerging because of an announcement yesterday that the regulator, with respect to the roll-out of 5G wireless technology, will not require coverage of the geographic land mass and there will be more of a concentration on population densities, as there has been in the past. A previous Minister indicated a willingness to look at the geographical basis rather than the basis of population density or dispersal.

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