Written answers

Thursday, 14 May 2015

Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Broadband Service Provision

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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216. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on the designation of e-towns for persons who work from home to come and live in, because of the availability of super-fast broadband; if he sees potential to attract high spending residents to towns, particularly depressed rural towns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19039/15]

Photo of Alex WhiteAlex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The Government strongly supports the importance of high quality Broadband connectivity for long term economic and social sustainability.

The National Broadband Plan is delivering high speed broadband to every home and business in Ireland regardless of its location. This is being achieved through a partnership between Government and commercial telecommunications companies.

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. Approximately 1.1m homes and businesses already have access to such services. These very significant investments represent a step-change in the quality of broadband services available.

The Government is committed to ensuring that those premises located in areas outside the commercial investment footprint will also have access to the same quality of services. The availability of such services will enable citizens and businesses to access a wide range of new services, including the capacity to work from home and the ability to innovate with existing and new businesses. Experience from the Department's Trading Online programme shows that using the internet to sell goods and services has a positive impact on businesses. The considerable commercial broadband investment under the National Broadband Plan is therefore already helping to re-invigourate towns across Ireland.

Last November I published a national high speed coverage map for 2016. This map is available at . The map shows Ireland with two colours, BLUE and AMBER.

The areas marked BLUE represent those areas that will have access to commercial high speed broadband services by end 2016. The Amber areas represent those parts of the country where commerical operators deem it unviable to invest. All premises within the Amber area will be included in the State's intervention.#

Through this combination of significant private and public investment, the Government is confident that the broadband connectivity challenge, particularly in the more rural parts of the country, will be definitively addressed.

Photo of Seán ConlanSeán Conlan (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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217. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the reason residents in the village of Killydoon in County Cavan do not have broadband facilities; when they can expect to be provided with broadband services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18934/15]

Photo of Seán ConlanSeán Conlan (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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218. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the reason areas in rural County Cavan on the main N55 national route have not been provided with broadband facilities; when such facilities will be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18935/15]

Photo of Alex WhiteAlex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 217 and 218 together.

The National Broadband Plan 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 end 2016.

The AMBER areas show the target areas for the State intervention and includes Killydoon, Co Cavan. All premises within the AMBER areas will be included in the State's intervention. The Deputy can refer to the map to ascertain the townlands in rural Cavan along the N55 national route that fall within the State's intervention Programme.

More generally I can confirm that next generation broadband services have been rolled out to over 9,500 premises to date in Co Cavan with a further 8,500 expected to be served over the next 18 months. The remaining 18,000 premises in Co Cavan are the target for the proposed State intervention under the National Broadband Plan.

Intensive design and planning work is underway in my Department to produce a detailed intervention strategy for the AMBER area. 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 and aims to conclusively address current broadband connectivity issues in mainly rural parts of the country.

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