Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 11: 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. [29915/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The telecommunications market in Ireland, including the provision of next generation broadband networks and services, has been fully liberalised since 1999 and, since then, has seen the steady growth and development of significant well-regulated competition in the provision of the full range of telecommunications products and services. The provision of broadband services, including next generation broadband, is therefore primarily a matter for the private sector telecommunications operators.

I do however, fully accept and am committed to policies that will promote the roll-out of broadband. In this regard the European Commission's Digital Agenda for Europe sets challenging targets for all member states in terms of incrementally increasing the availability of basic broadband by 2013 and the roll-out of higher broadband speeds over next generation broadband infrastructure by 2020. Next generation broadband can be delivered over various fixed and wireless platforms. The wireless technologies are often referred to as "4G" or fourth-generation wireless technologies.

The first of the Digital Agenda milestones is to have basic broadband services available to all EU citizens by 2013. I am happy to report that between the significant private sector investments that have taken place and the targeted Government intervention aimed at addressing market failure, such as the National Broadband Scheme and the Rural Broadband Scheme, Ireland will be in a position to meet this first milestone in advance of 2013.

While the National Broadband scheme has brought broadband to areas that were previously unserved, the Rural Broadband Scheme, which recently closed for applications, aims to identify remaining individual premises in rural Ireland that are unable to obtain a broadband service for reasons specific to the premises, even though broadband is generally available in the area.

The Digital Agenda for Europe also seeks to ensure that by 2020, (i) all Europeans have access to speeds of at least 30 Mbps and (ii) at least 50% of European households subscribe to connections of at least 100 Mbps. There is already significant progress being made in Ireland in the quality and delivery of broadband speeds within the competitive market. 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. Fixed wireless products are increasingly available, with advertised speeds of up to 10 Mbps, while mobile broadband speeds are also being increased. The speeds being provided through these technologies will be considerably enhanced with the availability of new spectrum as a consequence of the switch to digital TV services. ComReg proposes to auction this valuable spectrum for the purposes of providing fourth generation high speed wireless broadband services.

Current statistics indicate that more than 80% of customers nationally have opted into broadband services in the range of 2 to 10 Mbps.

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 bring forward next generation broadband customer access to every home and business in the State. This commitment must be implemented in a manner compliant with the applicable EU state aid rules.

The next generation broadband task force (NGBT), which I chair, is currently considering how best to facilitate the roll-out of next generation broadband. The NGBT also comprises the Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, 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 task force is to discuss the optimal policy environment required to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband across Ireland. The task force will also assist me to identify those areas of the country where commercial service providers are planning to invest and areas more appropriate to market intervention to ensure the Government commitment on next generation broadband access is delivered.