Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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817. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to what extent eircom's roll-out of end-to-end fibre-to-home broadband to the areas of Churchill, Fintown, Gleneely, Rossnowlagh and Tamney in County Donegal meets the requirements of the Government's national broadband plan; if he envisages State intervention will be reduced as a result; if so, if the capital savings from such a reduction will be reserved for other areas in County Donegal where State intervention will be needed, and where the roll-out of broadband will be challenging; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23125/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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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. Last November I published a national high speed coverage map for 2016. The map identifies every townland on a county-by-county basis and can be accessed 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 area shows the target areas for the State intervention; all premises within the AMBER areas will be included in the State's intervention.

eircom recently announced an investment that may cover a further 300,000 addresses with fibre-to-the-premises high speed broadband including a number of areas in Donegal. My Department will be rigorously examining the assurances from eircom in relation to these new plans, which is a requirement for all operators, and will review how this impacts the proposed intervention area.

New private planned next generation access investments, such as announced by eircom recently, may be added to the national high-speed coverage map, once it is established that these plans are definitive and meet the relevant criteria to deliver high speed broadband service to end users. Until the necessary analysis is completed, it would not be appropriate to comment any further.

It is envisaged that the map will be updated on an ongoing basis from now until the award of a contract or contracts relating to the State intervention.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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818. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans to create a database of the existing broadband assets of the State with details on utilisation, pricing and access to each asset; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23151/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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As part of the NBP, operators will be asked to bid in a procurement process to select a provider or providers for the roll-out of high speed broadband in the areas where commercial services will not be provided. The re-use of existing infrastructure like poles, ducts, sites and masts, will minimise the cost of the State intervention by avoiding unnecessary new build. It is also consistent with the Broadband State Aid Guidelines and the EU’s recent Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (2014/61/CE).

Therefore, my Department is compiling a register of owners of existing infrastructure that could be used to support the NBP network roll-out, and publishing it on our website.

The purpose of this register is to provide potential bidders with information on infrastructure which could be used as part of their bid. The register enables bidders to clearly see the type and general location of existing infrastructure which could be re-used but is not designed to be a detailed database of infrastructure. Rather it is a mechanism to facilitate engagement between bidders and infrastructure owners. If bidders are interested in seeking further information on infrastructure owners assets, in terms of exact location, pricing, terms and conditions etc, then they can make contact and seek further information directly with the owners concerned. This may also be relevant in the case of assets that are not within the National Broadband Plan intervention area, but could nevertheless be beneficial to the roll-out of other telecommunication services and services in areas that are being served commercially.

In terms of including state assets, My Department carried out a series of bilateral meetings with semi-State and public sector organisations, the purpose of which was to maximise participation in the register and to discuss the practical arrangements for compiling it. In addition, my Department also met with a number of commercial companies with relevant telecoms infrastructure in rural areas and issued a direct invitation to over 50 companies to register their infrastructure on the register. This, together with advertisements placed in national newspapers on the 14 April last, ensured that the widest audience of asset owners was reached and encouraged to submit their details to the register.

On 15th May, my Department published the register with details of those owners of infrastructure, as notified to us. To date, 21 owners have registered their details with my Department but the register remains open to any interested party should they wish to have their details included. Indeed, since publication, my Department has received further details for inclusion.

My Department will continue to engage with various organisations to ensure the maximum level of infrastructure re-use as the sharing of existing telecommunications infrastructure is considered a key enabler in reducing the overall cost of the project and in ensuring value for money to the State.