Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
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590. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the way he envisages the national broadband plan affecting Connemara, County Galway; the plans in place for enhancing the connectivity of the area; the amount of investment that will be needed in Connemara to ensure the region benefits from the delivery speeds referred to in the plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9185/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure that every citizen and business, regardless of location, has access to a high quality, high speed broadband service. This will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and a State led intervention in areas where commercial services will not be provided.

The commercial telecommunications sector is currently investing approximately €2.5 billion in network upgrades. Approximately 1.6 million of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland are expected to have access to commercial high speed broadband services over the next two years. These very significant investments represent a step-change in the quality of broadband services available.

A public consultation on a national high speed coverage map 2016 which was launched last November, closed on the 12th February. 27 submissions have been received to date and will be assessed over the coming weeks in terms of the overall intervention strategy. The map continues to be available at . The areas marked BLUE represent those areas that will have access to commercial high speed broadband services by end 2016. The AMBER area shows the target areas for the State intervention.

The map allows all members of the public, be they business or residential, to see whether their premises or home will have access to commercial high speed broadband services by end 2016 or whether they will be included in the Government's proposed intervention. It also provides detailed information on over 50,000 townlands throughout the entire country including Connemara, Co Galway.

It is anticipated that speeds of at least 30Mbps will be also delivered through the Government's intervention and the network will be designed to cater for future increased demand from consumers and business.

In tandem with the mapping consultation, intensive design and planning work is underway in my Department to produce a detailed intervention strategy. The strategy will address a range of issues in relation to the intervention including the optimum procurement model, ownership model for the infrastructure, intervention cost and likely market impact. This is an important part of the detailed work that is being undertaken to finalise the intervention strategy. Ultimately however, the outcome of the tender process will determine the final cost of the intervention.

Following a public consultation process on the draft Intervention Strategy during next summer, I hope to move to formal procurement phase towards the end of this year in order to select a preferred bidder or bidders.

The Department will design a tender in a way that maximises efficiencies and keeps the cost of the network build as low as possible. I anticipate that the first homes and businesses will be connected in 2016 and connections will continue thereafter, with the intention of having all premises connected within a 5 year period.

This complex and ambitious project is a key priority for Government. It aims to conclusively address current connectivity challenges in Ireland.