Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 43: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the degree to which high speed or state-of-the-art broadband is likely to become available in all regions here without exception with particular reference to the need to ensure the availability of such modern telecommunications in the highly competitive economic climate; if and when he expects such facilities to become readily available to the field of business, education, medicine and high tech modern industry; if he has identified any particular or potential obstacles to achieving such targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15885/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The provision of electronic communications services, including broadband, is, in the first instance, a matter for private sector service providers, regulated by the independent regulator, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg).

The two key broadband issues for Government are (i) broadband availability and (ii) broadband quality. While these matters are primarily for the private sector operators, Government may intervene if the private sector market fails to address the issues satisfactorily.

Targeted interventions, such as the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) and the Rural Broadband Scheme are aimed at addressing rural areas where broadband services are not otherwise available due to reluctance on the part of commercial operators to invest because of inadequate financial returns.

The NBS network provides a widely accessible broadband service in all of the 1028 Electoral Divisions that were identified as needing intervention.

More recently, I announced a Rural Broadband Scheme, which aims to provide a basic broadband service to a relatively small number of remaining individual un-served rural premises.

This approach, which has prioritised Government intervention to provide widespread customer access to a basic broadband service in the first instance, is consistent with EU targets published last year, which prioritises such widespread access by 2013.

As regards broadband quality, significant improvements have been made in the delivery of broadband speeds in recent years. For example, broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second are already available to 500,000 or so premises using coaxial cable. This will increase to over 700,000 premises by the end of next year. Telephone lines now provide digital subscriber line quality (DSL) offering speeds of up to 24 mbps, depending on distance from exchanges. In addition to these improvements in fixed line services, developments in wireless technologies are also delivering higher speeds. WiMax products, which are increasingly available, offer speeds of up to 10 mbps, while mobile broadband speeds are also being increased.

Under the NewERA proposals in the Programme for Government to deliver higher broadband speeds, there is a commitment to co-invest with the private sector and commercial Semi State sector to provide Next Generation Broadband to every home and business in the State. Consideration of how best to progress these proposals is being advanced by my Department.

Specifically the Next Generation Broadband Taskforce (NGBT), which I chair, is now considering how best to roll out Next Generation Broadband network access. The NGBT, which includes representatives of large network owners and smaller telecommunications services providers, held its first meeting on 13 June 2011. I expect that the NGBT, which will conclude its deliberations by the end of the year, will be helpful in terms of identifying the optimal policy position to deliver wider customer access to high-speed broadband.