Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 471: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the steps his Department has taken since the publication of the Innovation Taskforce Report to act upon their key recommendation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37559/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Government policy pertaining to the electronic communications market in Ireland is set out in "Next Generation Broadband – Gateway to a Knowledge Ireland", which I published in June 2009. The policy paper sets out the Government's position that investment in broadband infrastructure is primarily a matter for the private sector, facilitated, where appropriate and possible, by Government.

This policy has facilitated significant progress in rolling out broadband services, over recent years. This progress, measured in international comparisons, is demonstrated in a recent study of broadband services in 72 countries by the University of Oxford and the University of Oviedo, Spain, which concludes the broadband services currently available in Ireland are capable of meeting the requirements of today's broadband applications and overall, in terms of broadband quality and penetration, Ireland ranks 13th of the 72 countries studied.

Progress in delivering increased speeds is ongoing, Eircom is currently rolling out an Ethernet service which provides speeds up to and exceeding 1Gbs to wholesale customers and other high-bandwidth users. Speeds are also increasing for lower bandwidth users, for example, Eircom and the Vodafone/BT alliance are both rolling out speeds of up to 24 Mbps using vDSL technology and UPC is currently providing speeds up to 30 Mbps and is rolling out speeds up to 100 Mbps.

The June 2009 policy paper also proposed the establishment of a Next Generation Broadband Taskforce comprising industry, Government and ComReg, aimed at ensuring that the development of high speed and high quality broadband in Ireland will meet the demands of Ireland's Smart Economy by delivering next generation networks and access. I was awaiting various developments prior to establishing the Taskforce including:

i) greater clarity from the EU Commission on the regulation of next generation access;

ii) revised guidelines from the EU Commission on State Aid for broadband;

iii) an outline Radio Spectrum Policy Programme from the EU Commission; and

iv) completion of the roll-out of the NBS.

All of these developments have come to pass and I signalled earlier this month that I now propose to establish the Taskforce. The first meeting of the Taskforce will be held shortly.