Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 110: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on consulting with the National Roads Authority in order that significant ducting can be put in place along the verge of new road structures to allow necessary cables to be put in place in the future at minimal cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36907/08]

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will ensure his Department undertakes a comprehensive audit of national broadband infrastructure including wireless, fibre, copper and mobile in order that he has a clear picture of the gaps in physical infrastructure that need to be addressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37173/08]

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 128: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he will make publicly owned ducting available to network operators on commercial terms to reduce the cost of fibre roll-out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37178/08]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 110, 121 and 128 together.

One of the main proposals of the consultation paper on next generation broadband is to facilitate private sector investment in next generation broadband networks. As the consultation paper indicates, major investment is already under way by the private sector, amounting to more than €400 million per annum, facilitated by a pro-competition, pro-investment regulatory regime. The paper also committed to providing access by private operators to public sector broadband assets. In particular, access will be facilitated to ducting that already exists along publicly owned infrastructure which could be used to provide backhaul connections.

While it is my firm view the private sector has the primary role in investing in telecommunications infrastructure networks, it makes sense to utilise State infrastructure assets to facilitate broadband connectivity on commercial terms, particularly where there may be market failure.

Accordingly, I have proposed two additional actions in the consultation paper to support infrastructure deployment. Major public infrastructure projects will, in future, install ducting at construction stage to facilitate network roll-out. A one-stop-shop will be established to make it easier for service providers to access current and future ducting in State infrastructure.

Department officials have commenced work to identify relevant State assets which can be used for ducting and laying fibre. They have also had discussions with the National Roads Authority to address the range of issues relating to third party access to their ducting. They will be following up quickly with the other State agencies, mainly in the electricity, gas and transport sectors to assess how best their assets can be accessed.

My Department is also considering various models for a one-stop-shop. There are several possibilities to be examined and I am keen that whatever model is decided on will give service providers efficient and cost-effective access to State-owned ducting.

My Department is progressing this work as a matter of urgency. I am determined that there will be tangible progress on this in 2009 so that we will realise the goal of co-ordinated access to broadband State assets next year.

On high voltage electricity cables, Deputies will be aware that I recently published an independent study on the comparative merits of overhead electricity transmission lines versus underground cables. The consultants who undertook the study noted that high voltage underground transmission cables do not compare favourably with overhead transmission lines in terms of electricity transmission system adequacy and reliability of electricity supply. The study also noted that the cost implications of underground cable proposals would be significant. The consultants stated the negative impacts associated with underground transmission cables cannot compensate for any of the advantages of such infrastructure.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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First, I am not sure what the merits of underground versus overground in terms of electricity cables has to do with the roll out of broadband in terms of ducting. I do not see how those questions are relevant to each other.

I ask the Minister to give a little more detail on what is asked for in Question No. 121, which is the national audit of broadband infrastructure. Surely the place to start with any new national broadband strategy for next generation networks is to establish what is there currently, what we can use, where there are gaps that need to be filled and what technologies are available to fill those gaps. That would seem to be a basic obvious way to move forward.

The Minister stated his officials are working on a national audit of publicly-owned ducting, and that they will make tangible progress at some stage in 2009. There is another two months left in 2008. Why does it take so long to get basic information together from State-owned bodies as to the whereabouts of ducting for broadband infrastructure?

Can I get a timescale from the Minister as to when we will have that national audit on publicly-owned ducting? Is the Department looking at privately-owned infrastructure as well with a view to providing, through regulation, open access to it so there is an overall telecommunications web infrastructure across the country into which we can tap to provide more competition and more products at a cheaper price for consumers?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I take Deputy Coveney's point that the reply, in going into the issue of overground-underground cabling, possibly extends the intent of the original questions. Apologies for that.

On the issue of timing, that first audit is only one part of the series of work that must be carried out. That will be carried out quickly, I would hope within a short period before the end of this year. There are other complex issues in terms of how one arranges, prices and fits in the access to an expanding private-sector network and how one connects it in a most useful way. The audit is a first crucial step but it is only one step in a series of measures through which one must work in a highly complex market where there are a number of different operators and where the need for access would vary tremendously depending on different commercial needs.

Such access already exists in certain instances. If I can cite the bus infrastructure in Dublin where we have put in bus corridors, at that time ducting was put in place and that has proved hugely useful in terms of providing common access. Therefore, we are not starting without a base of experience of how it can work.

In this project we want to provide a seamless connection across a range of different State infrastructure and a one-stop-shop means an operator need not go to the Railway Procurement Agency in one instance and the National Roads Authority in another. Those various pieces of ducting that each of those authorities have connect together.

That will take a certain amount of time and co-ordination, but it is something we want to have completed within a year and have up and running next year. That is the target I have set my Department.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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I have a brief question. The Minister spoke of the National Roads Authority and the Railway Procurement Agency. Is he including the local authorities as road authorities? I presume, they have a certain role to play in this. Perhaps he would comment on that. What has he done in the case of local authorities?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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It should include local authorities. It should also include sewage pipes, water mains and other State infrastructure, particularly where the ducting can be installed during construction. For example, in this year's budget a major increase in funding was made available to local authorities for water infrastructure investment. I see no reason such water networks should not include ducting.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Is it going to happen? Is the Department doing it?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The task of my Department is to pull together the various diverse bodies into a single State resource under which ducting can be made available on an open-access basis to any commercial company.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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What kind of contact has the Minister had with local authorities across the country? What arrangements has he made with them?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The first arrangement is with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which will work through the local authorities on a co-ordinated basis to implement the proposal.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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What has the Department done?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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It is working with my Department on the proposal.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My concern is that we will go to a great deal of trouble to put together a national audit of broadband ducting infrastructure — and other forms of infrastructure that can be used for broadband roll-out, such as fibre-optic cable run along railway tracks or ESB cabling — but that we will not undertake an audit of privately owned infrastructure that is available for ducting. The audit of publicly owned infrastructure is only half the job. We cannot have an intelligent strategic approach which is of maximum benefit to the industry if we do not know what ducting is available in private ownership, for example, in the Eircom, NTL and Chorus networks. We need to know all infrastructure available in Ireland, in wireless form as well as physical ducting or fibres. In this way the Minister can, through regulation, ensure we open up access to all that infrastructure to facilitate competition. Is it the Minister's intention to do that quickly, or is it his intention to consider only publicly owned infrastructure?

Is it the Minister's ambition to require open access to privately owned as well as publicly owned infrastructure, as has been done, for example, in France? This would have significant benefits in terms of promoting competition and allowing new entrants into the market by offering them access to infrastructure they would not otherwise have been able to access.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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We have a backhaul network throughout the country. The difficulty is the cost, particularly in isolated rural locations. There are regulatory systems in place that allow a company backhaul access if it wants to provide a service. The difficulty is that the cost is very high because the volume of business, having regard to the distance, is very low. Thus, it is expensive to build networks in certain locations, and difficult to obtain backhaul connections. Competition helps bring prices down. With the development of Eircom's main network, a State-supported investment in an ESB backhaul network resulted in further competition to help bring prices down. Similarly, BT's having access to a backhaul network running along railway lines provides competitive pressures which bring prices down. What we want to do in the provision of public infrastructure is to assist the roll-out of broadband. Effectively, what Deputy Coveney is saying is that the State should have access to all private networks. I do not believe that is the step we should take.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Minister should regulate for open access.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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There is regulated access and there are regulated charges in terms of how broadband access works.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Could I clarify my question?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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What I want to do is to assist companies on an equal-access basis, where we do have ducting, in providing the backhaul network for whatever operator wants to use it.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On a point of clarification, I am not talking about operators getting access to existing infrastructure in terms of a wholesale product such as unbundling local loops, for example, where a company can use the Eircom infrastructure for the last mile to access homes. I will spell out the point by way of an example. If a company wants to provide physical infrastructure into a local business or a housing estate and Eircom owns ducting into that housing estate, will the Minister require it to share that infrastructure through regulating open access to physical ducting that currently exists throughout the country as opposed to companies asking Eircom if they can use its fibre at wholesale prices? There is a big difference between the two.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Different models apply in the market. Certain wholesale providers of backhaul do it on the basis the Deputy is talking about in that they provide access to the unlit fibre and the client has full use of that ducting in their infrastructure to deliver it. Other operators will go on a wholesale basis. We are not talking about changing the market conditions for every different supplier in terms of the way they operate their business. What we are doing is using State infrastructure to try to assist each business to improve the backhaul infrastructure, recognising that the development of broadband on the demand side — mobile 3G systems, on-line video demand and so on — will require a massive increase in digital data traffic across the country and a significant development of the backhaul network. We want to make the State assets available to make that happen quicker and at least cost.