Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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693. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Question No. 98 of 24 March 2015, and in view of difficulties experienced by the enterprise centre (details supplied), if he will ensure fibre optic cables are brought as far as the enterprise centre as a priority without such cost implications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13269/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) are State owned fibre networks which are located in 94 regional cities and towns. These networks are managed, maintained, operated and marketed on behalf of the State by a private company, enet. enet is required to provide services on a wholesale, carrier neutral and open access basis to licensed telecommunications operators who connect to the MANs and in turn offer telecoms products and services to businesses and individuals.

I understand that the location of the premises referred to by the Deputy is outside of the area covered by the MAN in Mitchelstown. Given the distance involved from the premises to the MAN, it is understood that the costs for the civil works, associated Local Authority costs, installation of fibre and equipment would be significant. As enet is required to provide this service on a commercial basis, the service operator who would be providing the service to the premises would have to reimburse enet for all the associated charges with the delivery of the MAN service.

As I outlined in my response to the Deputy’s Question No 936 of 24 March last, the Government's 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 national high speed coverage map 2016 which I published last November is 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.

Mitchelstown is included in the BLUE area, with many parts of the town already able to access high-speed broadband services through commercial investment. The Deputy will be in a position to access the map online and see whether the enterprise centre in question will have access to commercial high speed broadband services by end 2016 or whether it will be included in the Government's proposed intervention.

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

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.