Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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195. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if there is a cost differential to the State in defining a minimum 100 mbps broadband speed rather than a 30 mbps broadband speed for the roll-out of the national broadband plan; and, if so, what is that differential. [18637/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to deliver high speed services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. Delivery of high speed broadband is a strategic priority under  the Programme for a Partnership Government.  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 State intervention  to address the  identified deficit in  access to High Speed Broadband in Ireland was guided by a set of intervention principles that are aligned with the State Aid Guidelines (SAG) namely:

- technology neutrality

- use of existing infrastructure

- effective wholesale access

- step change in broadband availability

- step change in broadband customer experience

- future-proofed technology.

In order to assess the case for intervention the Department conducted detailed cost modelling and financial appraisal models over very complex design simulations.  The costings and key assumptions have been used to design the National Broadband Plan (NBP) Intervention Strategy.  These key assumptions form part of the bid evaluation within the procurement process and if publically made known would undermine the integrity of a competitive procurement process.

The Broadband Intervention strategy for Ireland available on my Department's website 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 least30mbps 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

The emphasis therefore is on putting in place a high quality infrastructure network capable of being scaled up to meet current and future demand, with 30Mbps as a minimum rather than a ceiling for consumers.

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.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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196. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the number of staff employed to deliver the tendering stage of the national broadband plan within his Department. [18638/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to the delivery of High Speed Broadband under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) as a matter of priority. This is being achieved through private investment by commercial telecommunications companies and through a State intervention under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) in areas where commercial investment is not forthcoming. The National Broadband Team oversees the delivery of every aspect of the NBP including:

- Mapping of the areas where commercial services are available and monitoring of commercial rollout

- Addressing  barriers to commercial rollout

- Development of the detailed intervention strategy under the NBP

- Analysis of ownership options

- Detailed Cost modelling

- cost benefit analysis

- Analysis of funding option

- Analysis of Governance requirements

- Environmental requirements

- The on-going State Aid Notification process with EU DG Competition

- Development of Procurement documentation and delivery of a complex procurement process involving extensive dialogue with commercial telecoms operators.

- Establishing a Taskforce on mobile phone and broadband coverage

- Developing proposals for an entity to manage State telecoms contracts

- Liaising with the telecommunications regulator, ComReg, and the European Commission on regulatory measures relating to high speed broadband rollout.

Each strand of the NBP intervention strategy has been carefully designed  and developed in consultation with industry and other stakeholders in order to deliver the highest level of broadband access in the most effective and cost efficient way.

The NBP Team works across all strands of this major policy area, and comprises approximately 20 full-time equivalent personnel, including expert staff seconded from the telecoms regulator, ComReg.  The Team is fully supported by external professional expertise including technical, commercial, economic, legal, environmental and financial, to assist in the delivery of the project.  A dedicated Steering Group and Procurement Board is also in place to provide input on the overall strategy and on the procurement process. The size of the team varies from time to time, according to the specific needs of the project and is scaled up or down as necessary.

The delivery of the procurement phase of the NBP  involves input from all team members working on the project phases which includes: -

- Step 1:Publication of the Pre-qualification Questionnaire – this step was launched on 22 December 2015.

- Step 2:Five responses were received to this stage of the process, by the deadline of 31 March (which was extended by one month, from 29 February to 31 March at the request of bidders).

- Step 3:Qualified bidders will be invited to commence dialogue (Invitation to Participate in Dialogue). This is scheduled to commence over the coming weeks and will take a number of months;

- Step 4: Bidders will be invited to submit detailed solutions for further dialogue (Invitation to submit detailed solutions);

- Step 4aBidders will then submit  detailed solutions for evaluation;

- Step 5:Bidders will be invited to submit final, formal tenders following further dialogue

- Step 5a:Bidders submit formal tenders;

- Step 6:Formal tenders submitted by qualified bidders will be evaluated.

- Step 7:Preferred bidder(s) identified

- Step 8:25 year contract awarded – June 2017.

The timing of each stage of the procurement is dependent on a number of factors including the number of bidders short-listed and the complexities that may be encountered during the dialogue process. It is expected that contract(s) will be awarded in 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.

This ambitious project aims to conclusively address broadband connectivity issues across Ireland and the procurement process aims to secure contractor(s) to build a network that will cover 100,000km of road, and 96% of the land area of Ireland, most of which comprises rural areas. A project of this magnitude needs to be resourced appropriately and I am confident that my Department has put in place an experienced, and appropriately skilled team to manage the ongoing strategy development and procurement process, both of which are inextricably linked.