Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the broadband scheme; the available speeds; the future upgrades in Bandon, County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35279/11]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Telecommunications services in Ireland including broadband services are provided by private service providers over various platforms including DSL (i.e. over telephone lines), fixed wireless, mobile, cable, fibre and satellite. ComReg's website www.callcosts.ie provides detailed information on the various private sector telecommunications products and services available on a county by county basis, including County Cork

In line with State Aid rules, the Government can only intervene in cases where the market has failed to deliver and the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) is an example of such an intervention. The roll out 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 96 EDs covered in County Cork. Bandon town, County Cork, could not be covered by the NBS, as it was deemed to already have a basic broadband service.

The Government's other intervention, namely the Rural Broadband Scheme, which will be rolled out next year, is aimed at making broadband services available to individual unserved premises in rural non-NBS areas. This could include individual premises in the Bandon region.

The advances in the provision of private sector broadband alongside the completion of the roll-out phase of the NBS and 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.

The Government accepts that the widespread availability of high speed broadband is a key requirement in delivering future economic and social development. With basic broadband services now available across Ireland, the challenge now is to accelerate the roll out of high speed services.

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.

In June of this year I established the Next Generation Broadband Taskforce, which I chair and which also comprises 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 investment in and provision of high speed broadband across Ireland.

The Taskforce, and four Working Groups reporting to it, are considering issues such as appropriate targets in terms of speed and service, potential barriers to investment, spectrum policy issues and possible demand stimulation measures aimed at increasing overall Internet usage.

The Taskforce is scheduled to complete its work next month and I hope to be in a position to bring forward proposals to Government in early 2012 aimed at ensuring the timely investment in next generation high speed broadband across Ireland.