Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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1541. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding broadband in rural areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30735/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband services, and the pricing thereof, is a matter, in the first instance, for private sector service providers operating in a liberalised market, regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg).

The State can only intervene to ensure access to broadband services in cases of clear market failure, as was the case with the National Broadband Scheme (NBS), which commenced in 2008. Through this scheme my Department, with the support of the European Union, invested significantly to ensure that infrastructure and services were made available to redress the deficit in basic broadband connectivity which existed at the time in certain designated rural areas. Following a 68 month operational period, the NBS expired in August 2014, in line with EU State Aid guidelines. The NBS, combined with private sector investment in the broadband market over recent years, means that there is now a choice of commercial operators offering basic broadband services, over a diverse range of technology platforms throughout Ireland.

The details provided in the Question refer to customers previously served by the NBS satellite service, which was utilised in a small number of cases for technical reasons associated with the location of the premises. Following the expiry of the NBS, these customers can continue to avail of broadband services on a commercial basis from Digiweb, which had previously provided the NBS satellite service on behalf of “3”, the NBS service provider. I understand that the tariff offered to former NBS customers is similar to the rates charged by the company to its customers outside of NBS areas and that customers receive increased download and upload speeds as well as a 37% increase in data allowance.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is a Government initiative which aims to deliver high speed broadband to every citizen and business in Ireland. This is being achieved through a combination of accelerated commercial investment by telecoms operators, and a proposed State intervention to provide high speed broadband to those parts of the country where the commercial sector will not invest.

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 and was developed based on the most up to date information available at the time of publication. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services by 2016. The areas marked AMBER represent those areas where the State intends to intervene to ensure those areas will have access to high speed broadband services. Members of the public can consult the map to establish for themselves whether their individual premises is included in the planned intervention or not.

My Department is currently in the process of updating the Map, taking into consideration any new information received or operator announcements made of any new plans. We expect to publish an updated version of the Map before the end of this year.

The NBP proposed Intervention Strategy document, which was published on 15 July last, sets out a series of detailed proposals by Government in respect of the proposed State intervention. It sets out the key elements of the intervention - what services are proposed and how they will be delivered. It outlines various aspects of the proposed intervention including the type of network envisaged, the minimum speeds being demanded, the length of the contract for services, and whether the network should be public or privately owned.

The Government is determined to ensure that the network is built out as quickly as possible and engagement with industry stakeholders has indicated that this could be achieved within 3-5 years of the contract award.

In this context, the NBP proposes that through the combination of commercial investment and State intervention, 85% of addresses in Ireland will have access to high speed services by 2018 with all addresses passed by 2020.