Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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850. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his views on correspondence regarding broadband speeds in an area (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26701/16]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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851. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if e-fibre will be installed in an area (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26730/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 850 and 851 together.

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 High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ieshows the extent of the State Intervention area:

The areas marked BLUE represent those areas where commercial telecommunications providers are either currently delivering or have previously indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services. My Department does however continue to monitor the commercial deployment plans in the BLUE area to ensure that those services are delivered and will, if necessary, include additional premises in the formal procurement process where it is evident that services will not be provided by the commercial sector.

The areas marked AMBER on the High Speed Broadband Map represent the target areas for the State Intervention, which are the subject of the current procurement process. It is intended that premises within this area will have access to services of at least 30Mbps when the procurement process is completed and the network rolled out.

The map provides information on a county by county basis with a breakdown of coverage across the townlands in every county including County Kerry.

The maps shows that the majority of Castleisland Co Kerry, falls within the BLUE area  where commercial providers are either currently delivering or previously indicated that they have plans to deliver high speed broadband services.  However there are also areas of Castleisland that are within the AMBER area. The Townland of Moher, Co Kerry falls completely within the AMBER area.

While I cannot compel any operator to provide services to a particular premises, my Department continues to actively monitor the deployment plans in the BLUE area and direct feedback from consumers is important. In this regard, if customers in Castleisland cannot access high speed broadband services, I would encourage them to contact my Department directly at broadband@dcenr.gov.ie, quoting their address and Eircode, and giving details of providers they have contacted with a view to obtaining services. The Intervention Strategy 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 least30Mbps download and 6Mbps upload, available 99.95% of the time.  It must also be capable of catering for higher performance in the future so as to keep pace with consumer demand.  Together with other detailed technical specifications, these will ensure that a reliable fast service is available to consumers. I am satisfied that the speeds are sufficiently high to meet consumer demand, and that any network build will have to be capable of scaling up to meet future demand. The 30Mbps target will be minimum speed rather than a ceiling for consumers.

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.  On 5 July, I announced that my Department has also identified that up to an additional 170,000 premises which are currently marked BLUE on the High Speed Broadband Map are unlikely to get access to services. My Department is conducting further analysis to identify these additional premises with a view to including them in the formal procurement process. This work will conclude in the coming months and will be reflected in a further update to the High Speed Broadband Map.

The Department commenced the Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) phase of the procurement process in July and is engaged in the formal dialogue process with the three qualifying bidders. Following the conclusion of the Dialogue Phase and an invitation to bidders to submit detailed draft proposals, the Department will issue final tender documentation to bidders. When final tenders have been submitted 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 timing of each stage of the procurement is dependent on a number of factors including the number of qualified bidders and the complexities that may be encountered during the procurement process.  It must be noted that bidders will need adequate time to prepare detailed proposals and their final formal bids and get the relevant shareholder and funding approvals at these stages of the process.

In preparation for the procurement stage of the process my Department investigated how different technical solutions could be used to deliver high speed broadband.  In line with EU State Aid rules, the process must be "technology neutral" and it is not therefore possible to specify what technology should be used to build the network. As part of the procurement process bidders will be asked to propose solutions which meet the NBP service requirements. It is recognised however, that a significant fibre build will be required, regardless of what technology is used to provide services to individual premises.  Once the successful bidder or bidders is chosen the technology(ies) to be deployed will become clear.

As part of the Department's extensive stakeholder consultations in 2015, telecommunications service providers indicated that it could take 3-5 years to rollout a network of the scale envisaged under the NBP. It is however open to bidder(s) to suggest more aggressive timescales as part of their bids.  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 Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. A detailed rollout plan for the network will be published once contract(s) are in place.

The Programme for Government also commits to measures to assist in the rollout of the network once a contract is awarded.  In this regard, Minister Humphreys is leading on the establishment of two regional action groups, working with Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Offices and other relevant agencies to help accelerate the broadband network build in rural Ireland, once a contract(s) has been awarded.

In the meantime, my Department continues to liaise closely with industry and relevant other Departments and agencies to assist in the commercial deployment of telecommunications networks. The commercial telecommunications sector has invested over €2bn in upgrading and modernising networks which support the provision of high speed broadband and mobile telecoms services. These investments will further improve the coverage and quality of broadband and mobile voice and data services throughout the country.

In line with commitments in the Programme for Government I established a Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce with Minister Humphreys in July 2016. The Taskforce will recommend practical actions that can be taken in the short-term to improve mobile phone and broadband access in Ireland, working with Government Departments, Local Authorities, ComReg, State Agencies, the telecoms industry and other key stakeholders. The work of the taskforce will also assist Local Authorities in preparing for the rollout of the new NBP network once contract(s) are in place. I expect that Minister Humphreys and I will bring proposals to Government by the end of 2016, on foot of the Taskforce's report.