James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 91: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he is satisfied that, in the context of the national broadband scheme, mobile broadband technology will be able to provide broadband speeds that will prevent an urban rural divide in broadband infrastructure. [4595/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The objective of the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) is to provide access to affordable scaleable broadband services to rural areas, many of which do not currently have any broadband service.

Following the conclusion of a technology neutral procurement process, which was open to all broadband service providers from across all platforms, my Department has entered into a contract with "3", a Hutchison Whampoa company, for the delivery of the NBS.

3 will extend their network to provide mobile broadband services into the NBS area. The mobile broadband service will be delivered using Internet High Speed Packet Access (I-HSPA) technology and will cover up to 95% of the NBS coverage area. The service will have a minimum upload speed of 200kpbs. The 200kpbs product is the minimum speed available and is comparable to what is typically used by residential broadband users in urban areas. Additionally, the service will have a minimum download speed of 1.2mbps, a maximum contention ratio of 36:1, a latency of 120 milliseconds and a 15 gigabit (12 down, 3 up) inclusive monthly allowance limit.

Businesses currently without any broadband service will benefit by being able to send and receive emails and files, surf the web, and update their own websites. Under the NBS contract the broadband products will be upgraded to higher specifications (speeds, contention and data caps) in July 2010 and again in October 2012 without any increase in the monthly recurring charge. NBS subscribers will experience minimum download speeds of 1.6Mbps and 2.3Mbps and minimum upload speeds of 1.2Mbps and 1.4Mbps subsequent to these upgrades in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

In recognition of the fact that some areas will be very difficult to reach using standard infrastructure, 3 will make available a satellite product which is expected to cover around 5% of the NBS areas. The satellite product will have a minimum download speed of 1mbps, a minimum upload speed of 128kbps, a maximum contention ratio of 48:1, latency of 800 milliseconds and an 11 gigabit (10 down, 1 up) inclusive monthly allowance limit.

I am satisfied that the NBS will provide speeds comparable with products available in the market for urban areas and greatly assist in bridging the digital divide.