Written answers

Thursday, 15 November 2007

Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Telecommunications Services

5:00 pm

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 47: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he expects 100% high speed broadband availability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28912/07]

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 60: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the national broadband scheme; his views on whether the 1MB service it offers is sufficient and competitive; the most up to date cost of this project; the timeframe for the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28978/07]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 47 and 60 together.

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

The widespread provision of broadband services continues to be a priority for the Government. 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). There are still some parts of the country where the private sector will be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband services. Accordingly, the procurement process for a National Broadband Scheme (NBS) is under way. The NBS will provide broadband services to areas that are currently unserved and will ensure that all reasonable requests for broadband in unserved areas are met.

The NBS aims to provide basic broadband services to rural regions. The requirement is to provide a minimum 1MB service, which is currently a typical product on the Irish market. It is intended that product specifications will evolve during the contract period to reflect trends in the broadband market. Financial modelling has been undertaken to establish the estimated cost of the scheme. I am not making the figure public as to do so could influence the negotiation process with the candidates.

The first phase of the procurement process, the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) phase, is now complete and four candidates have pre-qualified. As my Department indicated on 2 September, the four candidates are, in alphabetical order, BT Communications Ireland Ltd Consortium, eircom Ltd, Hutchinson 3G Ireland Ltd and IFA/Motorola Consortium. The next phase of the procurement process involves inviting candidates to participate in a competitive dialogue process. My Department is anticipating that the award of the NBS contract will be in the second quarter of 2008, with roll out of the services due to begin as soon as possible thereafter. This timeline is subject to negotiations with candidates during the competitive dialogue phase of the procurement process.

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