Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 335: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he has a view or realisation of the importance of the telecommunications system from an economic point of view; if he has in the past or in recent times inquired of the regulator or the service providers with a view to determination as to whether the quality, coverage and availability of all such services is up to EU standards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42486/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Government policy pertaining to the electronic communications market in Ireland is set out in "Next Generation Broadband – Gateway to a Knowledge Ireland" incorporates relevant provisions in the Government's Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal 'Building Ireland's Smart Economy', which recognises broadband as a key enabling infrastructure for the knowledge-intensive services and activities on which future prosperity will increasingly depend.

The telecommunications market in Ireland is fully liberalised and is regulated by the independent market regulator, ComReg. ComReg publishes quarterly statistical reports on developments in the fixed-line, mobile and broadband communications markets.

These reports, among other things, demonstrate the significant progress in broadband roll out and increasing broadband speeds in Ireland over recent years. At the end of March 2007, for example, the number of broadband connections, at 600,000 approximately, first exceeded narrowband connections. At end June 2010, by comparison, Ireland had in the region of 1.48 million broadband subscriptions and narrowband connections had reduced to less than 5% of all Internet connections. 85.8% of SMEs are now using broadband speeds between 2mbps and 10mbp and of the homes with broadband access, 77.8% of them are also using broadband speeds between 2mbps and 10mbps. The year-on-year growth in subscriptions over the preceding 12-month period from June 2009 was over 16.5%. Internationally, Ireland ranks 11th of the EU 27 for per-capita broadband penetration (composite fixed and mobile), 4th for mobile only penetration, and 14th for fixed broadband penetration.

I signalled last month that I have commenced the establishment of a Next Generation Broadband Taskforce to consider how best to facilitate the roll-out of next generation broadband services in Ireland.