Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 475: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the status of the national broadband scheme; the progress made in implementing the scheme since December 2008, as announced in the Building Ireland's Smart Economy: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal report. [43156/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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My Department entered into a contract with "3", a Hutchison Whampoa company, for the delivery of the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) in December 2008. The company is required to provide services, using a mix of technologies, to all fixed residences and businesses that are located within the NBS Coverage Area and who seek a service. The NBS is being rolled out on an electoral division (ED) basis with a total of 1,028 EDs to receive broadband services under the NBS. 3 is progressing its network roll-out and to date, NBS services have been made available in 38% of the EDs (391). Under the NBS contract, 48% of the EDs in the NBS Coverage Area are required to be enabled by the end of December 2009, while all EDs in the NBS Coverage Area must be covered by the end of September 2010. The status of the NBS roll-out is available at http://three.ie/nbs/. My Department is intensively monitoring delivery of the NBS to ensure that all contractual commitments are fully met.