Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Ireland’s telecommunications market has been liberalised since 1999 and since then has developed into a well-regulated market, supporting a multiplicity of commercial operators, providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms. Details of broadband services available on a county-by-county basis can be found on the Commission for Communications Regulation’s (ComReg) website at www.callcosts.ie.

The Government has undertaken a number of initiatives to bring broadband to those parts of the country where commercial operators have been unable to offer services on a commercial basis. In the case of one such intervention, namely the National Broadband Scheme (NBS), services are available to 1,028 Electoral Divisions (ED) including 112 EDs in County Mayo, which are listed in Appendix I. The Rural Broadband Scheme (RBS) 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. This Scheme is aimed at making a basic broadband service available to un-served premises in rural non-NBS areas.

My Department received 49 eligible applications from County Mayo. The details of applicants have been passed to the commercial operators participating in the Scheme. The names of these companies and the area where they operate can be found on the following link:

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Communications/Communications+Development/Rural+Broadband+Scheme/Participating+Internet+Service+Providers.htm .

The companies involved have now sought to provide services to applicants over the period from April to the end of July 2012 and are in the process of providing data to the Department on connections. Where a commercial service is offered the State cannot intervene. I await the outcome of this phase of the scheme.

The question of obtaining a connection directly to an undersea fibre optic cable is not a matter in which I have any function. It would be a commercial matter to be pursued with the owners and operators of the cables in question and any telecommunications operator who wishes to interconnect with the cable separately. I can confirm that my Department has sought EU State Aids clearance, to provide new fibre optic cables in ducts owned by the State from Galway to Mayo. It is expected that this infrastructure will enhance broadband services in the region generally.

While basic broadband services are available throughout Ireland, the challenge now is to accelerate the roll out of high speed services. This Government’s recently published National Broadband Plan entitled “Delivering a Connected Society – A National Broadband Plan for Ireland” aims to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband to every home and business in the State over the lifetime of the Government.

The plan has the following headline targets:

70Mbps - 100Mbps to more than half of the population by 2015;

At least 40Mbps, and in many cases much faster speeds, to at least a further 20% of the population and potentially as much as 35% around smaller towns and villages; and

A minimum of 30Mbps for every remaining home and business in the country – no matter how rural or remote.

As a first step in this plan, my Department will engage with the commercial service providers to identify those parts of the country which the commercial market will serve. This task will be essential to avoid displacing investments already made and being planned by the commercial service providers. The exercise is also required in order to meet EU Commission State Aid requirements.

Thereafter a public procurement will be announced to provide minimum levels of high speed broadband services across the country.

Electoral Divisions (ED) Covered by the NBS in County Mayo