Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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496. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources with regard to his broadband map, if he will confirm that blue areas that are due to receive 30meg by end of 2016 via commercial operators will do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7572/16]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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497. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to measure broadband provision in rural Ireland within either the blue or amber areas of the national broadband plan, if so, the measurement which would be provided, the areas in which this measurement will take place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7573/16]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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498. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources with regard to the national broadband plan map, where there are infill areas provision of less than 30meg within a blue area, the timeframe for commercial operators to provide 30meg to these users; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7574/16]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 496 to 498, inclusive, together.

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 commercial telecommunications sector has invested over €2 billion in network upgrades and enhanced services in the last four years, and is continuing to invest.  These very significant investments represent a step change in the quality of broadband services available.

The EU State Aid Guidelines for Broadband require Member States to thoroughly evaluate any commercial plans so as to ensure that State Aid is confined to those areas where commercial investment in high speed broadband services is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future. 

The Department has had extensive engagement with operators to identify those areas where there are concrete plans to roll out high speed broadband on a commercial basis in line with EU Sate Aid Guidelines for broadband.  In October 2015 the Department published the process used for assessing commercial high speed broadband investment plans. Plans received from commercial operators are assessed under technical, deployment and financial criteria, in line with the EU State Aid requirements.  This resulted in the publication of the High Speed Broadband Map 2020 in December 2015. No additional commercial plans have been submitted since the 2020 map was launched in December 2015.

The Map shows, based on the plans of commercial operators, that there are some 1.6m  premises in the BLUE area,  representing 70% of the total premises in Ireland. The remaining 30%, which comprise some 757,000 premises are in the AMBER area and are expected to be served by the State Intervention. The Department is monitoring the commercial rollout plans of operators on an ongoing basis to ensure that all of the 1.6m premises will have access to High Speed Broadband of at least 30Mbps.  

The Department has also published a process for managing the high speed broadband map which can be accessed at 

.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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499. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the availability of broadband at Kilmore in Enfield in County Kildare and the projected availability over the next two years, given that a number of rural areas in the vicinity have been upgraded but appear to still be lacking in broadband supply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7636/16]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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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 is being 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 has invested over €2 billion in network upgrades and enhanced services in the last four years, and is continuing to invest. These very significant investments represent a step change in the quality of broadband services available.

On 22 December 2015, I formally launched the procurement process for the State intervention to provide high quality, high speed broadband to all premises in Ireland that may not be served through commercial investment. The formal procurement process commenced with the publication of the Pre-qualification Questionnaire and Project Information Memorandum. Five responses were received from prospective bidders to this stage of the competitive procurement process by the deadline of 31 March. The responses are now being assessed in line with criteria set down by the Department with a view to selecting qualified provider(s) to proceed to the next stage of the procurement.This second stage in the process will be a formal Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to shortlisted bidders.

The High Speed Broadband Map 2020, which is available at shows the extent of the State Intervention area. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services. The Map shows that 77% of premises in Kildare are in the BLUE area. The remaining 23% of premises in Kildare (20,536 premises), including the townland of Kilmore, are in the AMBER area and it is intended that these will be served through the State intervention. Consumers can see whether their individual premises is in the BLUE or AMBER area by entering their Eircode on the Map. 

The intention is to build out the network in the AMBER area as quickly as possible. The procurement process is underway and it is proposed to engage with the winning bidder(s) in due course on the optimum rollout strategy, and on the sequencing of the network deployment to maximise efficiencies during network build, having regard to business and consumer needs, and to areas of particularly poor service and areas of strong demand. All these factors will need to be balanced against the most efficient network rollout and will be agreed during the procurement process.

The Department has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders and communities in developing the Intervention Strategy, conducting four formal consultations and over 100 meetings over the last 18 months in particular. Engagement with industry stakeholders as part of the pre-procurement consultations has indicated that the rollout in the Amber area 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 all premises in Ireland (both commercial and intervention area) will have access to high speed broadband within two years of the contract award, with 100% of premises connected within 5 years.

Local communities, and in particular, Local Authorities have an important role to play in facilitating the efficient rollout of infrastructure in their areas. The Department encourages Local Authorities to engage proactively with commercial operators, and the Department has also made several presentations to Local Authorities in relation to the National Broadband Plan., including Kildare County Council.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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500. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the current position on the timing and rollout of the national broadband plan for an area in (details supplied) County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7641/16]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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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 is being 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 has invested over €2 billion in network upgrades and enhanced services in the last four years, and is continuing to invest. These very significant investments represent a step change in the quality of broadband services available.

On 22 December 2015, I formally launched the procurement process for the State intervention to provide high quality, high speed broadband to all premises in Ireland that may not be served through commercial investment. The formal procurement process commenced with the publication of the Pre-qualification Questionnaire and Project Information Memorandum. Five responses were received from prospective bidders to this stage of the competitive procurement process by the deadline of 31 March. The responses are now being assessed in line with criteria set down by the Department with a view to selecting qualified provider(s) to proceed to the next stage of the procurement. This second stage in the process will be a formal Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to shortlisted bidders.

The High Speed Broadband Map 2020, which is available at shows the extent of the State Intervention area. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services. The Map shows that 77% of premises in Kildare are in the BLUE area. The remaining 23% of premises in Kildare (20,536 premises), including the townlands of Narraghmore and Calverstown, are in the AMBER area and it is intended that these will be served through the State intervention. Consumers can see whether their individual premises is in the BLUE or AMBER area by entering their Eircode on the Map.

The intention is to build out the network in the AMBER area as quickly as possible. The procurement process is underway and it is proposed to engage with the winning bidder(s) in due course on the optimum rollout strategy, and on the sequencing of the network deployment to maximise efficiencies during network build, having regard to business and consumer needs, and to areas of particularly poor service and areas of strong demand. All these factors will need to be balanced against the most efficient network rollout and will be agreed during the procurement process.

The Department has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders and communities in developing the Intervention Strategy, conducting four formal consultations and over 100 meetings over the last 18 months in particular. Engagement with industry stakeholders as part of the pre-procurement consultations has indicated that the rollout in the Amber area 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 all premises in Ireland (both commercial and intervention area) will have access to high speed broadband within two years of the contract award, with 100% of premises connected within 5 years.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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501. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which initiatives are planned to address deficiencies in the telecommunications sector with a view to ensuring that all segments of the sector are up to international standards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7738/16]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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502. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which he expects broadband quality and service to improve on an annual basis over the next four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7739/16]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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503. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the extent to which improvements in quality and speed of broadband is envisaged over the next two years with particular reference to County Kildare and the need to meet the requirements of customers therein as a matter of urgency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7740/16]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 501 to 503, inclusive, together.

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 is being 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 has invested over €2 billion in network upgrades and enhanced services in the last four years, and is continuing to invest. These very significant investments represent a step change in the quality of broadband services available.

On 22 December 2015, I formally launched the procurement process for the State intervention to provide high quality, high speed broadband to all premises in Ireland that may not be served through commercial investment. The formal procurement process commenced with the publication of the Pre-qualification Questionnaire and Project Information Memorandum. Five responses were received from prospective bidders to this stage of the competitive procurement process by the deadline of 31 March. The responses are now being assessed in line with criteria set down by the Department with a view to selecting qualified provider(s) to proceed to the next stage of the procurement. This second stage in the process will be a formal Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to shortlisted bidders.

The 2020 Map is available at . The map shows Ireland with two colours, BLUE and AMBER. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services.  The areas marked AMBER represent the target areas for the proposed State intervention. Members of the public can view whether their premises is in the BLUE or AMBER area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode.

The Intervention Strategy sets out a detailed service specification including a requirement that the State-funded network must be capable of delivering high-quality, high speed broadband of at least 30Mbps download and 6Mbps upload. It must also be capable of catering for higher performance in the future so as to keep pace with consumer demand.

The intention is to build out the network in the AMBER area as quickly as possible. The Department will engage with the winning bidder(s) on the optimum rollout strategy, and on the sequencing of the network deployment to maximise efficiencies during network build, having regard to business and consumer needs, and to areas of particularly poor service and areas of strong demand. All these factors will need to be balanced against the most efficient network rollout and will be agreed during the procurement process.

Engagement with industry stakeholders as part of the pre-procurement consultations has indicated that the rollout in the Amber area 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 all premises in Ireland (both commercial and intervention area) will have access to high speed broadband within two years of the contract award, with 100% of premises connected within 5 years. 

The Department will have a robust governance procedure in place which ensures that the winning bidder(s) deliver their obligations under the contract to the required standards and within the required timeframes.  In addition, the Department continues to monitor the rollout of network deployment plans in the commercial areas to ensure that services are delivered in line with commitments made by operators.

I am confident that through the combination of existing commercial investment and the State intervention, that all our citizens will have the same, if not better, access to high speed broadband services available internationally.

In the mobile telephony market, market operators are currently investing in the rollout of 4G networks. These are providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities over previous 3G and 2G technologies. These 4G networks use the same technology as the most modern mobile networks providing public access internationally.