Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 368: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the district electoral divisions in County Mayo that are not part of the national broadband scheme; the reason they are not part of the scheme; and the details of the broadband service available in each of the these districts. [3473/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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My Department has entered into a contract with "3", a Hutchison Whampoa company, for the delivery of the National Broadband Scheme (NBS). 3 will be required to provide services to all residences and businesses that are within the NBS area and who seek a service.

3 is currently planning the construction and roll-out of the required infrastructure for the purposes of the provision of the service. Challenging roll out targets have been agreed with 3. Services will begin to be rolled out in April 2009 and the entire NBS area must be covered by September 2010.

Details of the areas to be covered by 3 under the NBS are available at www.three.ie/nbs. The following table is a list of the electoral divisions (EDs) in County Mayo and it shows those that will and those that will not be covered by the NBS.

EU State Aid and competition rules govern how states can intervene in areas where there are existing service providers. Accordingly, the NBS, which was approved by the EU Commission, is prohibited from providing a service in served areas where to do so would give rise to an unacceptable level of market distortion. Accordingly, the NBS will not address certain EDs listed in the table herewith.

A list of service providers offering broadband services in any particular location is available at www.broadband.gov.ie.