Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 276: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources given the many areas of the country expressing major concern regarding the provision and quality of broadband and the effect that such a poor or non-existent service is having on their business opportunities, the actions if any he proposes or is planning with the agencies or through his Department to deal with the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42176/10]

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

The provision of broadband services is in the first instance a matter for private sector service providers operating in Ireland's fully liberalised telecommunications market. Broadband services are provided by private service providers over various platforms including DSL (i.e. over telephone lines), fixed wireless, mobile, cable, fibre and satellite.

I would stress to the Deputy that considerable progress is being made in relation to the provision and quality of broadband. At the end of June 2010 Ireland had in the region of 1.48 million broadband subscriptions. The year-on-year growth in subscriptions over the preceding 12 month period was over 16.5%. Internationally, Ireland ranks 11th of the EU 27 for per-capita broadband penetration of both fixed and mobile, 4th for mobile only penetration, and 14th for fixed broadband penetration.

Of the homes with broadband connections, 77.8% of them and 85.8% of SMEs are using broadband speeds between 2mbps and 10mbps. UPC is providing speeds up to 30 Mbs and is rolling out speeds up to 100 Mbs. Eircom and the Vodafone/BT alliance are both rolling out speeds of up to 24 Mbs using vDSL technology. In the wireless market, Imagine have launched WiMAX, a broadband product with speeds of up to 8mbps available. In addition Eircom has recently launched an Ethernet product offering speeds up to and exceeding 1Gbs to wholesale customers and to large broadband users.

Details of broadband services available in each county can be found on ComReg's website at www.callcosts.ie .

In cases of market failure the Government will intervene, where it is appropriate and possible to do so. The National Broadband Scheme (NBS) represents such an intervention.

In December 2008, my Department entered into a contract with "3", a Hutchison Whampoa company, for the delivery of the NBS. 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 which seek a service.

I am pleased to say that under the NBS broadband is now available in all Electoral Divisions in the NBS Coverage Area.

It continues to be a priority of the Government that there will be broadband coverage across the entire country. I am aware that there continues to be a small percentage of premises throughout the country that will not be capable of receiving broadband services. This is primarily due to technical and other reasons (suitability of a telephone line, distance from an enabled exchange, no line of sight etc.).

The European Commission has set aside a portion of the European Economic Recovery Programme (EERP) funding for rural broadband initiatives. Using this funding, which will be augmented by an Exchequer contribution, I intend to formally launch a Rural Broadband Scheme before the end of this year. This scheme will aim to provide a basic broadband service to individual un-served rural premises outside of the NBS areas.

Information in relation to acceptance of applications and the process of qualification under the scheme will be made available in due course when the scheme is launched.