Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 358: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the take up by subscribers to the national broadband scheme in view of the fact that the anticipated number countrywide was 126000; the anticipated number of subscribers for County Kerry; the number that have joined to date in 2011; the percentage of the country that is now provided with adequate coverage; and due to numerous broadband blackspots in Kerry, his views that it is essential that this scheme be urgently rolled out to all parts of County Kerry. [34694/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I understand that the number of subscriptions to date under the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) is 38,017, of which 3,550 are located in County Kerry. I must stress that in designing the NBS in 2008, my Department did not set a target of customer numbers. It is important to note that had my Department set target numbers for the Scheme, it would have exposed the public purse to an unacceptable risk as the successful bidder could argue that any shortfall in customer numbers (and revenue) would need to be compensated by the Department. Consequently, the taxpayer carries no risk on the lower than expected take-up.

The rollout of the NBS network was completed in October 2010 and broadband services are now available to persons with a fixed residence or fixed business in each of the 1,028 designated electoral divisions (EDs) of the NBS Coverage Area, including the 85 EDs covered in County Kerry. More generally, the key fact is that by virtue of the investment in the NBS, broadband services have been made available to circa 237,000 premises throughout the designated NBS areas. As the Deputy will appreciate subscription to the NBS is a matter for individual decision by persons in eligible areas.

From the beginning of this year, a total of 8,432 customers have subscribed to the Scheme, of which 1,190 are from County Kerry. Forecast NBS subscriber numbers on a county basis are not available from the NBS service provider, 3 Ireland.

Since the NBS contract was signed there has been an increased level of broadband availability from competitor service providers throughout rural parts of Ireland. In line with State aid rules, the State can only intervene in cases of market failure. Any call to include a new area into the NBS would have to be assessed on objective grounds and in line with the EU Commission's decision approving the Scheme and the consequent implementation of the NBS using electoral divisions. There are no plans to extend the areas covered under the NBS at this stage of project implementation. The Rural Broadband Scheme, which will be rolled out next year, is aimed at making broadband services available to individual un-served premises in rural non-NBS areas.

The completion of the roll-out phase of the NBS, in addition to the individual connections likely to feature in the Rural Broadband Scheme, means that Ireland will reach the EU Commission's "Digital Agenda for Europe" target of having basic broadband available to everybody in advance of the 2013 deadline.