Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 20: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which he has examined the failure of programmes to provide high-speed broadband in all areas throughout the country regardless of geographic location over the past ten years; the degree to which other jurisdictions have surpassed this country's performance in that regard over the same period; the extent to which he can make strategic and corrective changes to ensure a substantial improvement in the provision of state-of-the-art technology, thereby giving the business sector a competitive advantage in the communications sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30086/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The telecommunications market in Ireland, including the provision of current and 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 Government is not a commercial operator in this market and can only intervene in cases of market failure. Such interventions are subject to State Aid clearance by the EU Commission. It is nevertheless a priority of the Government that there is broadband coverage across the entire country. Therefore, in cases of market failure to deliver quality services, the Government will continue to intervene, where it is appropriate and possible to do so.

International comparisons of retail broadband services are conducted periodically. The latest OECD broadband report up to June 2010 ranked Ireland 13th of 19 EU states surveyed for fixed line broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants and 3rd of 18 EU states surveyed for wireless broadband penetration. Such surveys are confined to markets retail services only; they do not measure customised electronic services provided over leased lines or Ethernet services provided to businesses. 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.

Despite a slow start in investing in broadband, good strides have been made in more recent times both in relation to broadband penetration, speeds and competition. Commercial operators have been investing steadily of the order of €400 to €500m per annum in roll out of infrastructure and services. The State too has invested, where it has identified market failure. Initiatives such as the Metropolitan Area Networks, the National Broadband Scheme and major international interconnectivity projects are delivering important infrastructure and services to areas of Ireland which could not be served commercially.

As a result of the combined efforts of Government and the private sector, a basic broadband service will be available to all citizens across Ireland ahead of the EU target date of 2013.

In addition to basic broadband services, 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. Wireless technologies are also delivering higher speeds. The speeds being provided through wireless 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.

A key Government priority now, is to accelerate the widespread availability of next generation, high speed broadband. 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, 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, which will conclude its deliberations by the end of this year, is to discuss the optimal policy environment required to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband across Ireland.