Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 56: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will report to the Houses of the Oireachtas on the progress made regarding the creation of a one-stop-shop to market State-owned broadband infrastructure. [10458/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The establishment of a one-stop-shop is one of the commitments in the next generation broadband policy paper, Gateway to a Knowledge Ireland, which I published in June last year. The concept of a one-stop-shop arose from a recognition that there is added value to be had from facilitating telecoms operators in gaining access to ducting in State-owned networks thereby ensuring optimal use of State assets and facilitating more cost-effective roll out of broadband. The context of the proposal is the anticipated increase in demand for high speed broadband into the future.

My Department has had consultations with the telecoms operators and has also engaged with the relevant State bodies which are generally supportive of the proposal. My Department has also undertaken an initial survey of State-owned networks and has published a series of maps showing the routes of infrastructure such as roads, electricity, gas and rail.

A further development in progressing the concept has been the publication of the Premium Rate Services Bill, which contains an amendment to the Communications (Regulation) Act 2002 whereby the National Roads Authority will provide a formal framework to make ducts on national roads and motorways accessible to telecommunications companies. This Bill, which has cleared all Stages in the Dáil and Seanad, will be back before this House tomorrow and I anticipate it will be quickly enacted. The immediate objective is to have information on the availability of and access arrangements for all State-owned ducting via a single contact point later this year.

At the same time we will evaluate and progress the best management system that will in the future provide co-ordinated access to such State-owned ducting. Such a management system should facilitate our wider objective of promoting co-operation between different telecoms providers of backhaul and wholesale services while at the same time not undermining competition in the market.

Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In the three years I have been a Member of the House, I have heard the Minister pontificate about what he is doing in terms of broadband and set targets which he has consistently failed to meet. To hear him say he anticipates a demand for high speed broadband is really maddening, especially if one comes from my region of the mid-west which has the highest unemployment figures in the country.

When will we see developments because with almost 500,000 people unemployed, most of whom are in the mid-west, the IDA and Shannon Development have stated clearly that the most significant barrier to job creation in the mid-west is the lack of a high speed broadband system? It is simply not there. The networks have been in the ground for years and it is frustrating for people. When will we see those networks connected and a one-stop-shop, the details of which have been published, so that companies can access information from a one-stop-shop?

I would like a timeframe and for the Minister to state when this will happen. He could have given this answer last September. I do not want to listen to the same story from the Minister next September.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am glad Deputy Coonan mentioned the past three years because any independent analysis of what has happened in the past two and a half to three years since I have been in office is that broadband numbers have gone from 600,000 to 1.4 million or so. That is a fact.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Minister should not spin the numbers.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

That is the reality. However, it is not enough. We need-----

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

People are buying mobile phones.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

-----and want to go further. We need higher speeds. Again, it is a fact that the competition I am pursuing is delivering that. The competition between the cable providers, the fixed line providers, the mobile providers, the WiMAX providers and the satellite providers is the best way to drive down prices and drive up speeds. That has been shown in market after market and it is working here.

The likes of the cable company investing in new cable networks will give 50 megabit download speeds. WiMAX deployment here is ahead of any other European country. We need those sorts of innovative solutions because of rural one-off housing levels.

However, it is not enough and we need to go further. One of the comparative advantages we have over other countries is our recently built State infrastructure where we can provide access to ducting, in particular on our road network, along our gas pipelines, along our rail tracks and along ESB wires, where it is already happening.

This one-stop-shop will help progress that. We must do it carefully and in a way that does not undermine the very competition which I have set out and which is delivering the higher speeds, lower prices and greater broadband.

Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Minister did not give us targets or dates and he spoke about Europe. The National Competitiveness Council stated that broadband penetration in Ireland is the second worst in the EU for firms and small businesses. When will the Minister start to deliver, in particular in the mid-west region and rural areas where broadband is simply not available and if it is available, it is of such poor quality that it is not able to operate next generation technology. It is practically useless. For the past three years, we have appealed to the Minister time after time to do something about it. When will we see action rather than words? Actions speak louder than words.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In those rural areas, there is action. There is a €200 million plus scheme to provide in the best way we can to the very rural areas which, as the Deputy said, are most sensitive to this. We have gone further than that. We have gone to Europe where there is European Union funding available for a rural broadband scheme to get to the last 10,000 houses which will be covered by that scheme. We deliberately set out to try to give universal coverage across this island in order that no one is left behind.

At the same time, we must ramp up the speeds and let the technologies come here. New satellite systems are being rapidly developed where speeds are a multiple of what they were a year ago. That market-led competitive pressure is leading to new technologies and it is the best way to deliver those higher speeds.