Written answers

Tuesday, 14 June 2016

Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Broadband Service Provision

Photo of Bobby AylwardBobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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551. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the fibre broadband capacity in Brittas, County Kilkenny; the provisions in place to improve this; the status of its further planned roll-out there; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16045/16]

Photo of Bobby AylwardBobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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552. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to prioritise and expedite the roll-out of fibre broadband in Brittas, County Kilkenny under the national broadband plan to reflect the need for a reliable broadband service for residential and business purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16046/16]

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 551 and 552 together.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to deliver high speed services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to the delivery of the NBP as a matter of priority.  This is being achieved through private investment by commercial telecommunications companies and through a State intervention in areas where commercial investment is not forthcoming. The formal procurement process for the State Intervention commenced in December 2015.

The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie shows the extent of the State Intervention area, which is the subject of procurement. The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have previously indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services. The Department continues to monitor the commercial deployment plans in the BLUE area to ensure that those services are delivered. The areas marked AMBER on the High Speed Broadband Map represent the target areas for the State Intervention. The map provides information on a county by county basis with a breakdown of coverage across the townlands in every county.

Based on information previously  provided by commercial operators, 14% of the townland of Brittas, County Kilkenny will be covered by commercial operators with the remaining 86% of premises of the townland of Brittas being part of the State Intervention. Members of the public can view whether their premises in  Kilkenny are in the BLUE or AMBER area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode.

Over 750,000 premises are the focus for  the procurement process, which formally commenced in December 2015 with the publication of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire ( 'PQQ') 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 2016. The second stage in the procurement process will be a formal invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) to shortlisted bidders. I expect that my Department will move to this stage in the next month. The third stage of the procurement process involves the issue of final tender documentation which follows the dialogue process. Following the submission of final tenders by bidders, a winning bidder(s) will be selected for the contract which will comprise one or two lots as set out in the NBP Intervention Strategy. The Department will then enter into formal contract negotiations with the winning bidder(s). It is expected that contract(s) will be awarded by June 2017.

As part of the competitive process, the Department will engage with winning bidder(s) on the best rollout strategy, in order to target areas of particularly poor service, business needs and/or high demand. This will need to be balanced with the most efficient network rollout plan. A prioritisation programme will be put in place in this regard, in consultation with the Minister for Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht. A detailed rollout plan for the network will be published once contract(s) are in place.

The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to measures to assist in the rollout of the network once a contract is awarded.  In this regard, Minister Humphreys will lead on the establishment of county or regional broadband taskforces, working with Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Offices, LEADER Groups and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once a contract(s) has been awarded.

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