Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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194. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the options available to communities considering putting in place alternative community broadband solutions, where there are no, or only poor, current options; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16175/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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Through the National Broadband Plan, the Government 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 and enhanced services with approximately 1.6 million of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland 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.

Last November I published a national high speed coverage map for 2016. This map is available at . The areas marked BLUE represent those areas that will have access to commercial high speed broadband services by the end of 2016. The Amber areas on the map show the target areas for the State intervention.

The map can be checked to establish the precise location of individual premises or residences. All premises within the Amber area will be included in the State's intervention.

While there are no current financial schemes for communities to put in place alternative broadband solutions, there is a potential role for communities to aggregate demand for services in their areas and in so doing accelerate the deployment of such services. At least one operator has succesfully piloted this model with businesses in rural towns.

Through the National Broadband Plan the Government is 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.