Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I am glad to respond to this timely motion on rural broadband. I will begin by going through some of the general details but without getting bogged down in too many statistics. We could all quote figures from 2007, but they are probably out of date now because broadband numbers have doubled since October that year. We are now up to approximately 1.25 million subscribers, while the figure was less than half that two years ago. One must be careful in throwing statistics around, but roughly 1.25 million houses now have broadband access, which represents about 64% of households. Although 70% of houses have a computer, one might ask why we are not over 75%. If one does not have a computer, however, one does not have the mechanism for immediate access to broadband. Crucially, according to the latest statistics, 83% of companies, including small and medium employers, are now using broadband. There is an immediate economic benefit from that development, particularly in rural areas, since it provides business with the same connection as urban users.

Thomas Friedman's famous book on this issue, entitled The World is Flat, indicated that one has common access from downtown New York to Tubbercurry. The Internet is the same for all. There is a great opportunity for us to develop services in rural Ireland as an export commodity by selling them through the Internet. Services currently account for about 45% of our exports, and the estimate from the ESRI is that this could be up to 70% by 2025. Much of the growth will be in traded services, in which we have a great advantage due to location, language and our enterprising culture. In the last few years, we have developed an ability to trade internationally. We are good at it, and we should aim to do it in services, where we have a real competitive advantage.

How can we provide the next generation of networks that will be vital to provide that economic development? We published a paper on next generation broadband, having gone through the consultation process a number of weeks ago. It states that a competitive market will deliver many of the networks that we need. If we look at where other countries have been successful in getting faster broadband at cheaper prices, one of the key characteristics is a competitive market between a cable operator and a fixed-line operator. They can provide much higher speeds on their fibre or cable networks, and that is where real improvement in service quality occurs. There is not just a competitive market between the fixed line and the cable company, but also between the fixed wireless companies, satellite companies, mobile companies and there has been a major new investment recently in WiMAX technology. Competing platforms in a market will give our people the best broadband service. Such a competitive market is much better to make some of the investment decisions and technological changes.

We also stated in that paper that we think a collaborative approach will help us develop our networks quicker, that the size of our country, the nature of the market and the nature of evolving technology means that we do not just follow a competitive policy, but that we can get competing companies working in collaboration on some of the investments that need to be made. The business is often not easy. The return obtained from some of the expensive fibre deployment is not a certainty. If a collaborative approach can be taken, whereby a mobile company works with a fixed-line company and can carry some of the traffic on the other company's network, then we start to get a better business model. Having a number of different wholesale operators on a network is the way in which we can get networks built quickly. That is the broad message I sent out to the markets and the investment community in that regard.

The regulator has an important role, and its policy document determines regulation and follows our own framework document on the broad policy approach. It will be important in providing a signal to the companies as to how that investment might best take place. The Government's role is not just to leave things to the market. This is an area of crucial social and economic importance for the country, and we have clearly said that where we can actually value and address needs that the market would not provide quickly enough or cheaply enough, then we will do so. We are engaged in several initiatives that represent a positive contribution to that competitive collaborative market. One of our biggest initiatives has been the building of fibre optic networks around most Irish towns that otherwise would not have been built. The metropolitan area networks consist of fibre cable which we install in rings, connecting to the key business centres, residential areas, retail centres and public buildings. Today we signed the second phase of our management contract for those metropolitan area networks. The company that managed the first phase has now been commissioned on a 15-year timeline to provide the management of those fibre optic networks in 60 additional towns. This is a long-term investment and some parts of it have been difficult, such as how to develop the last mile into somebody's house or business, or how to get backhaul from smaller Irish towns where the volume of traffic is low and the economic cost is reasonably high.

That medium to long-term investment in fibre networks in our towns is starting to work. The volume of traffic on them is continuing to rise inexorably. We have started to see major investment decisions by the likes of our mobile companies, such as Vodafone, which are committing to those networks as part of their long-term network development strategy. These companies see the volume of data increasing so exponentially that they need to get onto fibre networks quickly. Those metropolitan area networks were the right investment for our country and would pay off in the long term.

We have made a similar investment in fibre connectivity for the rest of the world. One of the first interventions by the State dealt with the global crossing fibre optic connection into the country, which provides massive expansion in bandwidth, ahead of market demand and ahead of the obvious commercial return. It brought massive amounts of foreign direct investment in data centre businesses here that have been very beneficial to our economy. We have just landed another cable on the northern side of the island, coming in near Derry. This will provide the fastest broadband connection across the Atlantic. It has massive capacity for us to connect with North America and to serve as a link between Europe and North America. That is a large State and EU subsidised project to provide high speed broadband connectivity across the North and down through Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and into Dublin. It represents a further part of our investment where the State is working with the private sector to develop the backhaul network.

We also stated in our policy paper that we would use other ducting owned by the State along our motorways, railway lines and waterways. These can provide ducting on an open access basis for any and all companies involved in the market. We have much fibre access ducting in State ownership, and it is right for us to use it with the clear belief that the volume of data is only going to increase. We need to provide the backhaul ducting that will facilitate such traffic.

We also upgraded our broadband for schools this month. All 4,000 Irish primary schools have broadband connectivity, as we have put a scheme in place for four or five years. We want to go further and faster. We want to provide the best cutting edge speeds that other schools are providing, such as 100 MB connectivity. Within each school, we can provide a wireless connection system so that every classroom has access to that high-speed network and the class does not need to go to a computer room. That is important because it will free up the education system to start using a range of access devices to teach people in a new and innovative way. Why not have a French class over Skype video transfer into a French classroom? Why not have that cultural exchange without having to travel? Why not go into California Tech University and draw down some of the on-line lectures from the best physics classes in the world? That is all possible when one starts to put up whiteboards or provide access to students via high-speed broadband, which allows them to get under the hood of the technology that will determine this century. We are doing it.

Last month we went out with a request for tender to put in high-speed connectivity for the first 78 secondary schools. When we put in that high-speed 100 MB connectivity to the school, it will be much easier to get connectivity to the neighbouring business park or houses in those areas. This is a crucial investment in education and in broadband.

I have been privileged to be a member of the European Council of telecoms Ministers over the last two years. The Commissioner has been very progressive on behalf of the consumer, and has brought down roaming charges across Europe by forcing the industry to do so. There has been very progressive legislation in the telecoms package. We have also been able to tap into the European recovery and stimulus plans. In my energy brief, we have been able to draw down €100 million in support funding for the east-west interconnector we are building. Senators have mentioned that we intend to revert to the EU, as suggested in the European economic recovery plan, to apply for further support for our rural broadband initiative. This is one of a range of initiatives needed to complete the picture in rural areas.

Senators mentioned the national broadband scheme, which is probably the most progressive of those initiatives. The new wireless system that is being used as part of that initiative is at the cutting edge. I am fascinated by the speeds currently being attained. It was suggested two years ago that such speeds were impossible. The speeds for which people are planning in two or four years' time are a multiple of what we can achieve today. Ireland, which has had difficulties with its fixed-line and cable networks, is starting to deploy many more mobile systems ahead of other countries. More than a third of a million people are using and accessing mobile broadband in Ireland. The mobile broadband we are providing in rural areas, which would not otherwise be covered, is the latest and most advanced technology in the world. Having been tested here, it may well offer the solution being sought by the US and UK Governments as they, like us, attempt to cover rural areas.

This broadband scheme has been rolled out in 150 electoral districts, comprising 15% of the total area we are looking to cover. According to the technological results we are getting, it is providing the sort of high-speed solution people want. Under EU state aid rules, however, we are precluded from providing the scheme in question in certain areas. I refer to areas in which those who are not served by broadband represent a small percentage of the population of the area as a whole. If 5% or less of the population of a rural electoral district does not have broadband availability, we are precluded under EU state aid rules from providing a solution for the whole electoral district as that would be seen as a distortion of a functional market. As Senators have mentioned, people in approximately 12,000 homes might not be able to get broadband services because of the state aid constraints that apply to certain electoral districts. We are saying we will look after the people in question by providing a scheme of the nature that was outlined earlier. We will make a capital grant available to assist some form of development which does not have to involve satellite broadband. A range of different technological solutions might apply. We will provide grant support to facilitate the extension of broadband services to the last few houses.

It is important as a first principle in the development of a new digital knowledge society that we will have truly universal coverage across our country. We have to submit the outline of our scheme to Brussels by 15 July next. Now that we have been involved in so many interventions and support schemes, we can be said to be quite experienced. We have pursued a range of initiatives, including the metropolitan area networks, the national broadband scheme and Project Kelvin. We are getting quicker and better at it. We will seek EU approval and funding for this scheme. We intend to introduce the new network in a way that offers universal coverage to those who wish to connect to it.

We will then have to start to increase our use of these technologies. We will try to increase the proportion of houses with computers from 70% to as close as possible to 100%. We need to recognise that mobile phone devices will increasingly serve as our computers, access systems and notepads. They will soon be able to do everything mainframe PCs did three years ago. That is where we need to be as a people. It will create employment and have social and environmental benefits.

I am happy today because further progress has been announced. Real actions are taking place as we roll out our national broadband scheme, deliver cables across the north Atlantic and provide really high-speed broadband connectivity in our schools. We are not where we want to be, which is in the top three, but we are getting there. We are pulling ourselves up. We were lagging behind but we are now in the middle of the pack. We need to be ambitious if we are to excel in this area which offers an economic opportunity to this trading island.