Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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Question 17: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans to address the ongoing difficulties that rural householders and businesses are experiencing accessing a sufficient level of broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23881/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The telecommunications market in Ireland has been fully liberalised since 1999 and, since then, has seen the steady growth and development of vibrant well-regulated competition in the provision of the full range of telecommunications products and services.

The Government is not a player in this market and can only intervene in cases of market failure.

Between the significant private and public sector investments over recent years all areas of the country now have access to at least a basic broadband service.

The Rural Broadband Scheme, which recently closed for applications, aims to identify the remaining individual premises in rural Ireland, including county Tipperary, outside of the NBS areas that are unable to obtain a broadband service and to provide a basic broadband service to those premises, where requested. The Verification Phase of the Scheme will now commence. Under this phase efforts will be made to obtain a service for those who have applied under the Scheme from commercial Internet Service Providers under existing market terms.

If internet service providers confirm that a particular applicant cannot be served at present, the Rural Broadband Scheme will seek to offer a service through whichever company is successful in bidding for the RBS procurement contract. The procurement process is expected to commence toward the end of October and will aim to identify the preferred supplier. Pending contract negotiations a service provider will be appointed in early 2012.

Roll-out of the service under the Scheme is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. The Government accepts that the widespread availability of next generation broadband is a key requirement in delivering future economic and social development.

Under the NewERA proposals in the Programme for Government, there is a commitment to co-invest with the private sector and commercial Semi State sector to provide Next Generation Broadband customer access to every home and business in the State. The Next Generation Broadband Taskforce has an important role, in this regard.

In June of this year I convened the Taskforce which I chair and which also comprises the Minister of State with responsibility for NewERA, Fergus O'Dowd, T.D., the CEOs of all of the major telecommunications companies currently operating in the Irish market and the CEOs of some Internet Service Provider companies. The purpose of the Taskforce is to discuss the optimal policy environment required to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband across Ireland.

The Taskforce, and four Working Groups reporting to it, are considering issues such as appropriate targets, private sector investment plans, and the role of Government in driving and facilitating investment. The Taskforce met earlier this week and will meet again in December. I expect that it will help to identify the optimal policy to deliver wider customer access to high-speed broadband generally and thereby assist in delivering on the commitment in the Programme for Government.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 18: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent that comparisons have been made with the quality, standard and speed of broadband and other IT telecommunications services here with those available in other EU member states; his plans and targets, if any, to bring the quality in this country up to the highest available and the period within which it is expected to do so; if any examination has been done as to the reason that efforts in this regard over the past ten years have been largely unsuccessful; if provision can now be made for the ongoing updating and upgrading of such services on an incremental basis in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23934/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The telecommunications market in Ireland has been fully liberalised since 1999 and, since then, has seen the steady growth and development of vibrant well-regulated competition in the provision of the full range of telecommunications products and services.

The Government is not a player in this market and can only intervene in cases of market failure.

Commercial operators have been investing steadily in rolling out critical communications infrastructure in Ireland over the last number of years. That investment has been of the order of €400 to €500m per annum. The State too has invested where it has identified market failure.

Between the significant private and public sector investments over recent years all areas of the country now have access to at least a basic broadband service. International comparisons of retail broadband services are conducted periodically. The ComReg statistical report for end 2010 noted the latest OECD broadband data up to June 2010 ranked Ireland 13th of 19 EU states surveyed for fixed line broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants and third of 18 EU states surveyed for wireless broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants. A wider report on broadband services in 72 countries published in 2010 by the University of Oxford and the University of Oviedo, Spain, concluded that 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, ranks Ireland 13th of the 72 countries studied.

Significant improvements have been made in the quality and delivery of broadband in recent years. For example, broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second are already available to around 500,000 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 broadband (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, 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.

The Next Generation Broadband Taskforce, has an important role, in this regard. In June of this year I convened the Taskforce which I chair, and which also comprises the Minister of State with responsibility for NewERA, Fergus O'Dowd, T.D., the CEOs of all of the major telecommunications companies currently operating in the Irish market and CEOs of some Internet Service Provider companies. The purpose of the Taskforce is to discuss the optimal policy environment required to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband across Ireland.

The Taskforce, and four Working Groups reporting to it, are considering issues such as appropriate targets, private sector investment plans, and the role of Government in driving and facilitating investment. I expect that the Taskforce, which met earlier this week and will meet again in December, will help to identify the optimal policy to deliver wider customer access to high-speed broadband generally and thereby assist in delivering on the commitment in the Programme for Government.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 19: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans to develop fourth generation broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23883/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Under the NewERA proposals in the Programme for Government, there is a commitment to co-invest with the private sector and commercial Semi State sector to provide Next Generation Broadband customer access to every home and business in the State. The Next Generation Broadband Taskforce has an important role, in this regard. In June of this year I convened the Taskforce which I chair and which also comprises the Minister of State with responsibility for NewERA, Fergus O'Dowd, T.D., the CEOs of all of the major telecommunications companies currently operating in the Irish market as well at the CEOs of some Internet Service Provider companies. The purpose of the Taskforce is to consider and report on the optimal policy environment required to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband across Ireland.

The Taskforce, and four Working Groups reporting to it, are considering issues such as appropriate targets, private sector investment plans, and the role of Government in driving and facilitating investment. The Taskforce met earlier this week and will meet again on 12 December. In the interim, the four Working Groups will continue their work. The objective is that the Taskforce will report before year end. I anticipate that it will identify the optimal policy to deliver wider customer access to high-speed broadband generally and thereby assist in delivering on the commitment in the Programme for Government.