Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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36. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if the national broadband plan will bridge the digital divide outlined in the recent Switcher.ie report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38774/16]

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister will be aware of the recent Switcher.iereport, which outlined the digital divide based on 27,000 broadband speed tests across Ireland. Will he respond to that report and what is his assessment of it?

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The national broadband plan aims to deliver high-speed services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. A Programme for a Partnership Government commits to the delivery of the national broadband plan as a matter of priority. This is being achieved through private investment by commercial telecommunications companies and through a State intervention in areas where commercial investment has not been fully demonstrated.

The Deputy refers in his question to the Switcher.ie report, which points out wide disparities between the levels of service available in different parts of the country. The national broadband plan aims to address these disparities and provide quality connectivity for everyone in every part of Ireland regardless of where he or she lives or works.

My Department is now in a formal procurement process to identify the entity or entities to build, roll out, operate and deliver high-speed broadband to all premises within the intervention area. The three bidders in the procurement process have indicated that they are proposing a predominantly fibre-to-the-home solution for rural Ireland under the national broadband plan intervention. Householders and businesses may potentially be able to avail of speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps, with businesses potentially availing of symmetrical upload and download speeds. This is a solution that will endure for 25 years and beyond. It will also effectively remove the digital divide.

A Programme for a Partnership Government commits to measures to assist in the roll-out of the network once a contract is awarded. In this regard, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Humphreys, is leading the establishment of two regional action groups, working with local authorities, local enterprise offices and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural areas once the contract or contracts have been awarded.

In a further positive initiative, I established last July the mobile phone and broadband task force with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to address immediate issues relating to the quality of mobile phone and broadband coverage. I expect the task force to report in the coming weeks.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister will be aware from previous parliamentary replies that he has given to my party that the data show that nearly 50% of all homes and businesses in 12 counties may have to wait until 2022 to achieve the high-speed broadband set out in the Minister's plan. That is dependent on whether the plan remains on its current track. Since the tender has not gone to the marketplace yet, it is difficult to see how even that date can be achieved.

In the constituency that I know best, the average speed stands at approximately 17.4 Mbps. That is paltry. Has the Minister conducted a further review of the documents that he intends to present to the marketplace and is he still sticking with the benchmark of 30 Mbps? Will he at least consider 100 Mbps as the minimum download speed for the national broadband plan?

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The three consortia involved in the tender process have said that it is their intention to use the fibre-to-the-home solution predominantly. This will mean that homes and premises will receive up to 1,000 Mbps, well in advance of 30 Mbps. That is the challenge facing us with the national broadband plan and was one of the mistakes that was made, in that, at the time of the initial procurement process, the benchmark was set too low.

There are clear caveats set out in the tender documentation which runs to 1,000 pages where it is clearly stated that as demand and average speeds in urban areas increase, the service in rural areas must keep in step with them. That is why, because of the way we have structured the tender process, the three consortia are looking at a predominantly fibre-to-the-home solution. We are not talking about 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps or even 300 or 400 Mbps but about up to 1,000 Mbps, should people require it.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Am I to understand the tender documents will require speeds up to 1 GB or will it be a lower level, with the three consortia suggesting in the preliminary round of discussions that they would like to and will probably use fibre? At the end of the day the response will be based on the request for a proposal and unless the request for a proposal sets out that there is a requirement to use fibre, the Minister will have no way of ensuring or insisting on those who respond using fibre to all homes. Will the Minister confirm whether he intends to have the lower limit of 30 Mbps as the base requirement or if it will be increased to 100 Mbps, or if the tender documents will be silent on download speeds and require a fibre solution? I seek clarity for those who are waiting and forbearing, given the fact that it will be on the way at some stage.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The fact is that there are services on the way for the vast majority of customers across the country in advance of the roll-out of the national broadband plan. That is why we are focusing immediately on implementation of the task force's report on mobile phone and broadband services. We will publish the results in the next couple of weeks. The contract based on EU state aid rules must be technology neutral. We have to be cognisant of this, but the base requirement is that the technology used must be future proofed for the next 25 years. As the Deputy is aware, the European Commission has published its proposals for a 1 gigabit society. Because of this, the technology will have to be able to accommodate that speed in the future. At the end of the day what technology the companies propose is up to them, but they must comply with the requirement set down and because of this they are proposing a predominantly fibre-to-the-home solution.