Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 8: To ask the Minister for Communications; Energy and Natural Resources his plans to improve accessibility and functionality of the metropolitan area networks in the towns of Bantry, Skibbereen and Dunmanway, County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10839/11]

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 10: To ask the Minister for Communications; Energy and Natural Resources the capacity available to the metropolitan area networks in the towns of Bantry, Skibbereen and Dunmanway, County Cork; his views on whether these networks are being used to the maximum potential following the investment by the State of 90% of the cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10840/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 10 together.

The metropolitan area networks, MANs, were built by the State throughout the country to deliver telecommunications infrastructure where the commercial telecommunications operators had not invested and market failure had therefore been identified. The MANs are fibre optic networks mainly built in a ring formation around towns with populations above 1,500 persons. Each MAN has a co-location centre where service providers can house their equipment. The MANs contain more than 1,000 km of duct, sub-duct and high capacity fibre optic cable offering virtual limitless capacity.

The MANs are a middle mile solution meaning that they fit between the local access delivered in towns by service providers and the national backhaul network, for example, ESB Telecoms and BT, which carries the traffic from the MANs to the central points of international connectivity in the country. All the metropolitan area networks, including the MANs in Bantry, Skibbereen and Dunmanway, County Cork, are managed and operated by e|net, a company appointed by my Department following a procurement process. e|net makes the networks available to the telecommunications sector.

The MANs are operated on a wholesale carrier neutral and open access basis. This means any service provider can use the network without having to invest privately and replicate network footprints throughout the country. The MAN in Bantry is now delivering telecommunication services to that area. In the case of the Dunmanway and Skibbereen MANs, there are no customers yet connected. e|net is available to discuss the options for connection to these MANs with interested parties. However, it is understood that there has been insufficient market demand for fibre connections in these towns to date.