Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 338: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the number of persons from County Donegal who have applied to the rural broadband scheme; the number of applications which have subsequently been processed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15734/12]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 339: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his verification process for assessing whether participating internet service providers are meeting the minimum technical standards specified for providing a service to customers in lieu of inclusion in subsequent phases of the rural broadband scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15773/12]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 340: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the time deadline that will be required of participating internet service providers willing to provide internet services to applicants of the rural broadband scheme to revert to his Department with a reply on whether or not they were able to provide a service to the customer to the minimum specified standard required by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15774/12]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 338 to 340, inclusive, together.

The Rural Broadband Scheme was launched last year in recognition of the fact that despite the widespread availability of broadband throughout Ireland, there still remained individual premises that were unable to receive broadband provision, mainly due to technical difficulties. This Scheme is aimed at making a basic broadband service available to those individual unserved premises in rural non-National Broadband Scheme areas who wish to avail of such services. Approximately 3,700 applications qualified under the Scheme and 309 of these were from County Donegal.

The Verification Phase of the Scheme is now underway. Under this phase, the details of applicants have been passed to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who are participating in the Scheme and these companies have responded to my Department indicating where they may be able to offer services.

In order to participate in this phase of the Scheme, these ISPs have indicated that they are prepared to offer services which meet or exceed criteria set by my Department. However, my Department does not have a contractual relationship with any of the companies in question and is not endorsing or recommending any particular ISP in the process. Therefore the provision of services from these ISPs is a contractual matter between the company and the customer and, with the sole exception of customers in the National Broadband Scheme, my Department does not have a role in monitoring or assessing the provision of broadband services.

Where customers are dissatisfied with the contractually agreed service from a commercial service provider, they can refer their complaint to the Commission for Communications Regulation who will have the matter investigated. Letters were issued to applicants on 17 February asking them to give their consent to be contacted by those ISPs who had indicated that they could offer them a service. The deadline for the return of consent forms was extended to 16 March 2012 and reminder letters indicating the new deadline were issued to applicants.

Now that this deadline has passed, my Department will shortly be providing further information to the participating ISPs to enable them to write to applicants with offers of service. I expect that these written offers will be sent out in April and, subject to final agreement with the ISPs concerned, the provision of services to applicants during this phase of the Scheme will be carried out over the period May to July this year.

The response to date by industry suggests that virtually all premises in the country are capable of obtaining a broadband service from a supplier using one of the available technology platforms i.e. DSL, fixed or mobile wireless, cable or satellite. Where a commercial service has been shown to be available, the State cannot intervene with a subvention for alternative services.

Under the terms of the scheme however it is proposed to procure a service later this year for applicants who cannot be served by any commercial operator under the current phase.