Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

26. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources what he considers to be high-speed broadband in terms of its national roll-out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16120/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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 Broadband Intervention strategy for Ireland published in July 2015 and available at 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 to all citizens.

- be capable of catering for higher performance in the future so as to keep pace with consumer demand.

- ensure the availability of high quality wholesale services to allow retail competition to develop.

In addition, the intervention strategy also requires measures to meet the specific needs of businesses as well as ensuring scalability in terms of future anticipated growth in demand for bandwidth. Bidder(s) will therefore be invited to put forward minimum speeds for businesses, which can be built into the service standards of the winning bidder(s) contract.  The winning bidder(s) network will be subject to periodic reviews on a 3-5 year basis to ensure that it is keeping pace with demand.

The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ieshows 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.

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.