Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 30: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if a full audit has been completed of all State owned broadband infrastructure; when such information will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24141/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The Consultation Paper on Next Generation Broadband (NGB), which I launched in July 2008, proposed the establishment of a one-stop-shop to provide service providers with flexible and open-access to existing and future State owned infrastructure suitable for telecoms services.

Trade over digital networks is becoming increasingly important and access to high speed broadband networks will be necessary if indigenous and foreign owned enterprises in the regions are to prosper in the SMART economy.

Leveraging publicly owned ducting has the capacity to significantly reduce costs for private sector investors in rolling out fibre to the regions and thereby improve competition in the electronic communications market.

The one-stop-shop received a largely positive response in the Consultation process on the NGB Paper and contributors recognised the potential of utilising State assets to provide fibre networks, in the regions.

Following the Consultation process, my officials worked with the relevant State agencies in the energy and transport sectors to compile a data-base of the supply of publicly-owned-infrastructure, which currently or potentially can support high speed broadband networks.

Following this process, maps have been compiled, which provide an indicative depiction of the supply and gaps of relevant State infrastructure. The maps also include the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), an essential component of broadband connectivity in the regions. These maps will be published as part of the Next Generation Broadband policy paper, which will be launched shortly.

It is important to note that the readiness of this infrastructure varies greatly between the different agencies. For example, while some agencies are already involved in the telecom sector, other agencies have no involvement in the sector.

Another factor to consider is that some publicly-owned infrastructure may be subject to existing contractual arrangements and may not be currently available on an open-access basis.

The next step on developing the one-stop-shop is to decide on the best operational model and I expect to make a decision in this area over the summer.