Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the position regarding the rural broadband scheme; when applicants will be contacted by his Department or a service provider; the estimated timeframe for the provision of broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7146/12]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The Application Phase of the Rural Broadband Scheme (RBS) closed on 29 July 2011. The Department received 5,000 applications and of these, approximately 3,700 qualified under the terms of the scheme. The Verification Phase of the Scheme has now commenced. In this phase of the Scheme, the details of applicants have been passed to Internet service providers to assess whether a service can be offered to them without intervention from the State. A total of 32 companies are participating in this part of the Scheme.

My Department will be writing to all applicants by the end of this month to let them know the position in relation to their application and asking applicants to give their written permission to enable the companies to contact them directly with a written offer. It is expected that the companies involved will then write with offers to those applicants who give their consent. I expect that a significant number of applicants may be served by commercial operators as part of this phase of the scheme. If any applicants remain unserved after this phase a service will have to be procured by my Department which will be rolled out later this year.