Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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261. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Question No. 264 of 13 July 2016 and No. 240 of 6 October 2016, if 750,000 or 920,000 premises are to be covered by the national broadband plan; when all such premises will be connected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31201/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The High Speed Broadband Map, 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 previously indicated plans to deliver high speed broadband services. High speed services that are rolled out in BLUE areas are done so on a commercial basis by telecommunications operators.

- 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.

The Department is now in a formal procurement process which formally commenced in December 2015 to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network to the Intervention Area. The Intervention Area covers over 750,000 premises in Ireland, spans 100,000km of road network and 96% of the land area of Ireland. Since bidders were invited to participate in dialogue with the Department, there have been approximately 150 hours of meetings, with considerable more interaction to follow over the coming months.

On 5July, I announced that my Department has identified that up to 170,000 premises which are currently marked BLUE on the High Speed Broadband Map are unlikely to get access to High Speed services. Further detailed analysis is being conducted by my Department to identify these premises. This mapping work will conclude in the coming weeks and I will then make a decision as to whether the identified premises need to be included in the AMBER area, as part of the procurement. I will keep the Deputy informed of developments.