Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 120: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the number of group broadband schemes currently in operation; the number of customers availing of the services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2184/06]

Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will report on the county and group broadband scheme; the number of schemes which are in operation; the cost of same; the number of people who are being connected to broadband through these schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2116/06]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 120 and 139 together.

The objective of the group broadband scheme is to promote the roll out of broadband access through the establishment of sustainable broadband services in towns, villages, rural hinterlands and under-served areas of larger towns on the basis of local and regional authority coordination and community driven initiatives.

Two successful calls have been launched to date. Under the first call, 34 projects were approved and they were designed to deliver broadband to 38 communities with a combined population of over 36,000 people. This represented a capital investment of over €1.4 million in these areas.

To date, my Department has been advised that 24 projects are now operational under the first call with projected customer base of approximately 1,500 subscribers. Over €590,000 was committed in grant aid to these projects and to date the grantees have drawn down €246,000. As these projects are nearing the end of their first year my Department is expecting to receive the outstanding grant claims over the coming weeks.

Under the second call, a total of 128 projects were approved and they were designed to deliver broadband to 537 communities with a combined population of 384,000 people. This represents a capital investment of almost €14 million in these areas. To date, my Department has been advised that 24 projects have been launched and many of the other projects are currently at a test stage or nearing full operational capability. Of the second call projects launched, the service providers have projected a customer base of approximately 2,670 subscribers. The various project teams are working to make this a reality.

More than €5.3 million has been committed in grant aid to the second call projects and to date the grantees have drawn down €135,000. As the approved projects mature over the coming months it is expected that there will be a significant upturn in available broadband services and in subscriber numbers. The innovative group broadband scheme has captured the imagination of rural areas. It has given many communities which heretofore felt isolated from modern telecommunications developments an actual opportunity to access broadband facilities. The group broadband scheme is evolving day by day and as it rolls out across the country the benefits of this technology is becoming more apparent to communities. I have been listening to the many communities which were not sufficiently mobilised to avail of the first and second call and there is still a demand for broadband in rural areas.

To address this issue, it is my intention to hold a third call of the group broadband scheme and my officials are currently finalising the application procedure and documentation. I expect to be in a position to formally launch the third call shortly. Full details of the GBS scheme are available on my Department's website www.dcmnr.gov.ie.