Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 256: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he is satisfied at the progress to date in regard to the delivery of broadband services here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18298/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 257: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he expects 100% broadband availability here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18299/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 264: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he expects Ireland to take its place at the leading edge in the European context in terms of the provision and availability of broadband and other telecommunication services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18307/07]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 256, 257 and 264 together.

The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter for the companies operating in a fully liberalised market, regulated, where appropriate, by the independent commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. The role of the Government is to implement regulatory and infrastructure policies to facilitate the provision of high quality telecommunications services, by competing private sector service providers.

I have reviewed the EU Commission's most recent report on the EU's telecom markets. I note the report's finding concerning Ireland that "Broadband penetration is still below the EU-25 average, but has improved substantially". I would like to point out that the speed of take up of broadband in Ireland is extraordinary. The data used by the Commission for the report shows that the rate of growth in broadband in Ireland was running at 105% per annum (to Q3 2006) while the rate of growth for the EU-25 was only 32%. This means that Ireland is actually growing three times faster than the EU-25.

The latest official figures from ComReg, which supersede the figures in the EU Commission report, were released last week showing that Quarter 1 of 2007 saw the highest number of new subscribers added in any single period since the launch of broadband services in Ireland, with almost 84,000 new subscriptions added. At the end of quarter 1 of 2007 Ireland had 602,000 broadband subscribers. The EU report refers to broadband penetration of 10.3% for October 2006 compared to the EU-25 average of 15.7%. As a result of Ireland's rapid growth, Ireland's penetration rate at the end of Quarter 1 of 2007 stood at 14.2%. Based on the current rate of growth, Ireland is on course to pass the EU-25 average of 15.7% by the end of the year.

It continues to be a priority of the Government that there will be broadband coverage across the entire country. In that regard my Department has undertaken initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage. These include providing grant-aid under the recently concluded Group Broadband Scheme and investment in Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) in over 120 towns and cities under the Regional Broadband Programme.

Despite Government investment in broadband in the regions through the Regional Broadband Programme, there are still some parts of the country where the private sector will be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband connectivity. The procurement process for the Government's new National Broadband Scheme (NBS) was launched on the 2 May 2007. This scheme will provide broadband services to the areas of Ireland that are currently unserved and ensure that every reasonable request for broadband in these unserved areas is met. The estimated time scale for the award of the NBS contract is December 2007, with rollout of the services due to begin as soon as possible thereafter, subject to agreement with the chosen Service Provider.