Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 55: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his position regarding the implementation of a one stop shop for broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23037/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The objective of the one-stop-shop commitment in the Next Generation Broadband policy paper "Gateway to a Knowledge Ireland", is to facilitate telecoms network operators in gaining access to ducting that exists along publicly-owned energy, transport and other infrastructure so as to help reduce the cost of fibre roll-out for backhaul networks.

Government policy is to make available all State-owned infrastructure on an open-access basis in so far as is possible and I do not favour exclusive deals being done whereby one service provider secures exclusive access to a particular State-owned network.

An important step in delivering on this commitment is the Communications Regulation (Premium Rate Services and Electronic Communications Infrastructure) Act 2010, which provides that the National Roads Authority (NRA) is the single point of contact for access to ducts on motorways and other national roads. This means that telecommunications service providers no longer have to approach individual local authorities when seeking such access.

The legislation also allows the NRA to make a scheme, which will permit it to impose charges for the use of ducts made available by the NRA on national roads, subject to the approval of the Minister for Transport following consultation with the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, and the Minister for Finance.

I am satisfied that this will provide an open and transparent way of setting access pricing for NRA infrastructure.

I understand the NRA is currently exploring how best to develop this new business, which will include consultation with service providers and other stakeholders. I very much welcome this development as it is an example of what I set out to achieve in facilitating open access to State-owned ducting. Such open access is a clear policy objective of mine.

The NRA model is a significant advance and I will be seeking to extend this approach to other suitable State-owned infrastructure.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 56: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the possible use of text messages to alert the public to looming national disasters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23023/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The use of Short Message text messages to alert the public to looming national disasters is currently being considered. Discussions are currently taking place with industry as to the technical issues associated with the issue of an emergency text message.

The initial discussions indicate that there are technical challenges associated with the use of Short Message text technology to broadcast emergency messages. The mobile phone technologies were never designed to send short message service (SMS) messages simultaneously to all users of the mobile phone network. The question of how long it would take for messages to go through is being analyzed, and there are concerns that it could take some time.

The mobile phone operators have also indicated that there may be issues associated with resultant increased numbers of helpdesk calls which such messages might generate. All these issues are being considered along with other methods for the delivery of emergency messages using television and radio broadcast networks. The simplest approach used in the past is regular announcements on these networks.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 57: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding his stated goal to commence an independent study of broadband speeds available to customers here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23035/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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My Department commenced and substantially progressed a proposal to invite tenders to report on the quality of broadband speeds experienced by customers compared to headline speeds advertised by Internet service providers. In the course of the preparatory work a significant impediment identified was an absence of access to data on operators' technical capacities in different stages associated with the delivery of internet connectivity. I am advised that the robustness of any report would require access to data on matters such as customer port interfaces, backhaul connections and other technical aspects of the Internet connectivity. My Department is working with ComReg with a view to exploring how best to proceed and, if appropriate, ComReg using its powers and expertise to maximise the robustness of any report. I should also highlight that the EU Commission are currently considering a similar exercise and similar difficulties are arising.