Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 15: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he is satisfied that the mobile broadband solution being adopted by the national broadband scheme will be capable of providing acceptable broadband speeds to deliver next generation broadband to rural parts of the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10414/09]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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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.

The NBS is therefore a scheme designed to provide quality but basic broadband services for those areas which do not currently have access to broadband. Whilst it is scalable in nature it was not envisaged as a platform for the rollout of high speed next generation broadband networks in rural areas. The key policy objective which the NBS addresses is the provision of broadband where it is not available.

The Department has entered into a contract with "3", a Hutchison Whampoa company, for the delivery of the NBS. The Department is satisfied that the network 3 will roll out in the NBS area has been designed to provide a quality of service to meet the broadband needs of customers in the NBS area. The quality of the network will be monitored by my Department for the duration of the contract and upgrades of the network and network equipment are automatically triggered when contractually agreed levels of traffic are exceeded. These levels are set to ensure that the network is upgraded before traffic levels reach a level where quality degrades.

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 download speed of 1.2 Megabits per second, a maximum contention ratio of 36:1, a latency of 120 milliseconds and a 15 gigabyte (12 down, 3 up) inclusive monthly allowance limit. Additionally, the service will have a minimum upload speed of 200 kilobits per second. The 200 kilobits per second product is the minimum speed available and is comparable to what is typically used by residential broadband users in urban areas.

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 1.6 megabits per second and 2.3 megabits per second and minimum upload speeds of 1.2 megabits per second and 1.4 megabits per second 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 1 megabit per second, a minimum upload speed of 128 kilobits per second, a maximum contention ratio of 48:1, latency of 800 milliseconds and an 11 gigabyte (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.