Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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468. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Question No. 407 of 14 May 2013, if statistics exist in relation to the percentage of residents in County Louth who currently have access to 30 MBps, 50MBps and 100MBps broadband respectively; and if he will provide those figures. [24210/13]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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469. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Question No. 407 of 14 may 2013, if all residents in an electoral division (details supplied) now have access to 30MBps broadband at a minimum; the percentage of residents that have access to such broadband services; the steps that have been taken by the national broadband scheme and the rural broadband scheme in relation to broadband availability in that electoral division; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24211/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 468 and 469 together.

Further to my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 407 of 14 May last, broadband services under the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) are available to all fixed premises located in Creggan Upper ED in County Louth. The Scheme offers a basic broadband service, in line with EU State aid clearance, to fixed residences and businesses located within certain designated rural areas. Under the terms of the contract which my Department has in place with “3”, the NBS service provider, the NBS mobile wireless service is required to offer minimum download and upload speeds of 2.3Mbps and 1.4Mbps respectively, subject to a maximum contention ratio of 18:1. The NBS satellite service, which is utilised in a small number of cases for technical reasons associated with the location of the premises, offers minimum download and upload speeds of 3.6Mbps and 384 kbps respectively, subject to a maximum contention ratio of 48:1.

The Rural Broadband Scheme (RBS) was launched in 2011 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 was aimed at making a basic broadband service available to un-served premises in rural areas, not already covered by the NBS. Commercial service providers were in a position to offer services to all applicants from County Louth under the Scheme who agreed to engage with them.

Details of the service providers who operate in County Louth can be found on ComReg's website at , while more detailed information on the broadband products offered by these service providers should be available on their respective websites.

I also referred in my response to Parliamentary Question No. 407 of 14 May last to the formal mapping exercise being undertaken by my Department. This exercise is designed to identify the areas of the country to be targeted in the State-led investment under the Government's National Broadband Plan to ensure the provision of high speed broadband services where the commercial market will not deliver. When complete, this exercise will present details of the extent of the availability of high speed broadband services throughout the country, including the situation pertaining to County Louth.

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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470. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if there are any plans to upgrade the broadband service currently available in Castletownbere, County Cork (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24325/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Ireland's telecommunications market has been fully liberalised since 1999 in accordance with the requirements of binding EU Directives. The market has since developed into a well-regulated market, supporting a multiplicity of commercial operators, who provide services over a diverse range of technology platforms. Details of broadband services available in each County, including County Cork, can be found on ComReg's website at .

Decisions by private operators relating to investment in infrastructure, including the upgrading of broadband services, are taken purely on commercial grounds, having regard to the cost of service provision and the anticipated revenue returns from any such investment. You will appreciate, therefore, that I do not have a role in this regard.

The State can only intervene to ensure access to broadband services in areas where the competitive market has failed to deliver such services, as in the case of the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) and the Rural Broadband Scheme.

With basic broadband services widely available across Ireland, the focus is now on accelerating the roll out of high speed services. The Government's National Broadband Plan, which I published in August last, aims to radically change the broadband landscape in Ireland by ensuring that high speed services of at least 30Mbps are available to all of our citizens and businesses, well in advance of the EU's target date of 2020, and that significantly higher speeds are available to as many homes and businesses as possible.

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. Since the publication of the Plan, investments by the commercial sector are underway in both fixed line and mobile high speed broadband services, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas.

The Government is also committed in the Plan to investing in areas where high speed services are not commercially viable and will not be provided by the market. In an important milestone towards delivery of this commitment in the Plan, my Department has appointed experts to assist it in the design, planning and procurement of the State-led investment. Intensive technical, financial and legal preparations including stakeholder engagement will be ongoing 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 businesses can participate fully in a digitally enabled society.

I would reiterate that the Government remains committed to ensuring that all parts of Ireland, including Castletownbere, County Cork, will have at least 30Mbps connectivity, through public or private sector investment, as outlined in the National Broadband Plan.