Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans to provide high quality broadband in rural areas and in towns of a population of less than 1500 people; when he expects the roll-out of such services, the up-load speeds and down-loads speeds proposed, the proposed investment by the State in these services;; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13377/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Considerable progress has been made in recent years in both the coverage and speeds of national broadband infrastructure, with a multiplicity of commercial operators, providing services over a diverse range of technology platforms.

The Government, through the National Broadband Plan, which I published on 30th August last year, has recognised that the key imperative now is to ensure high speed broadband availability to all. Ireland is now therefore moving to a new phase of public and private sector investment in broadband in Ireland which will see significantly improved speeds delivered across the country.

Specifically, the Plan commits to 70Mbps to 100Mbps available from the commercial market operators to more than half of the population by 2015; at least 40Mbps, and in many cases faster speeds, to at least a further 20% and potentially as much as 35% of the population, and a minimum of 30Mbps for every remaining home and business in the country.

The Plan anticipates minimum target upload speeds of 25% to 30% of the headline download speeds.

During the preparation of Ireland’s National Broadband Plan, the commercial market operators indicated that they expect to provide 70Mbps to 100Mbps services to 50% of the population by 2015. The commercial sector is already making these investments in high speed services, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas.

The Government is committed in the Plan to investing in areas where high speed services are not commercially viable and will not be provided by the market. My Department is making preparations to commence a formal national mapping exercise to identify where the market is expected to succeed and fail in the delivery of high speed broadband over the coming years. This will inform the level of Government interaction that may be required and the areas that need to be targeted for a State-led investment. It will also form a critical input to an EU State Aid application in respect of any State-led intervention.

In an important milestone towards delivery of the commitments in the Plan, the Government recently launched a tender for experts to assist in the design, planning and procurement of the State-led investment. Intensive technical, financial and legal preparations including stakeholder engagement will be on-going throughout 2013 with a view to the launch of a procurement process in 2014.

Through the implementation of the National Broadband Plan, we are committed to increasing the availability of next generation speeds significantly, with a view to ensuring that all citizens and business can participate fully in a digitally enabled society.

I would reiterate that the Government remains committed to the delivery of the speeds referred to above, to ensure that all parts of Ireland, including rural areas and towns with populations of less than 1500 people, will have at least 30Mbps connectivity.