Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 150: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will report on his new indicative target of 700,000 broadband subscribers by the end of 2007; the targets the Government should set for broadband roll-out to 2010; the measures he will introduce to achieve this objective; if he has had contact with broadband service providers in relation to achieving the new 700,000 target; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11355/07]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter in the first instance for the private sector companies operating in a fully liberalised market, regulated by the independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.

Enormous progress has been made in the past 2 years in the roll out of broadband. The official number of subscribers in October 2004 stood at 63,600. Since then I have issued challenges to industry to break the 500,000 subscribers barrier. I am delighted to say that the next report from ComReg will show that this barrier has not only been reached but has been exceeded with more than 515,000 subscribers at the end of 2006. Final figures for 2006 are expected shortly from ComReg. To continue this impetus I recently issued a new challenge to industry to reach 700,000 subscribers by the end of 2007.

I am confident that this challenge will be met. There has been a large increase in the number of operators who offer broadband services. In addition, the take-up of alternative means of accessing broadband, i.e. cable broadband and fixed wireless by broadband subscribers has begun to take off. The use of fixed wireless local access is increasing, especially in rural areas that cannot obtain DSL connectivity, and the development of Wi-Max offers considerable potential in the future.

It continues to be a priority of the Government that there will be broadband coverage across the entire country. The Government has undertaken initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage. These include investment in Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) in over 120 towns and cities; the recently concluded Group Broadband Scheme and the new National Broadband Scheme which is currently being finalised and which will ensure that all reasonable requests for broadband from houses and premises in unserved areas are met.

The migration to Next Generation Networks is being considered by Service Providers and will generate many issues with wide implications for regulation, competition, investment and service delivery that need to be addressed.

To achieve this migration, I intend to establish a National Advisory Forum to advise me on progress towards Next Generation Networks. The Forum will be charged with having a precise blueprint in place by the end of 2007 on the migration. I would point out that the migration to Next Generation Networks will not be made at the expense of our current broadband rollout.