Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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687. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the estimated completion dates of the remaining stages of the environmental assessments and related environmental consultations associated with the national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4381/17]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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691. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources further to Parliamentary Question No. 242 of 28 September 2016, if he will provide a timetable for the update of the map of the NBP intervention area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4385/17]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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692. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the maximum number or percentage of premises envisaged as receiving a non-standard NGA solution under the NBP; the capabilities of that solution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4386/17]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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693. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he has received written commitment contracts from any providers in relation to planned private developments under the NBP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4387/17]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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694. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the meetings held by him or his officials to date involving lobbying from persons, businesses, public representatives, public bodies or communities in relation to their prioritisation in the roll-out schedule of the NBP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4388/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 687 and 691 to 694, inclusive, together.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to deliver high speed broadband services to 100% of premises in Ireland.  The Programme for Government commits to the delivery of the NBP as a matter of priority.  This is being achieved through a combination of commercial investment by the telecommunications sector and a State Intervention in those areas where commercial investment has not been fully demonstrated. 

A key principle of the NBP is to support and stimulate commercial investment through policy and regulatory measures. Commercial investment since the publication of the NBP has considerably exceeded expectations. To date, the commercial telecommunications sector has invested over €2.5bn in upgrading and modernising networks which support the provision of high speed broadband and mobile telecoms services.

Currently, approximately 1.4m premises in Ireland can get high speed broadband from commercial service providers and investment by the telecoms sector is continuing to expand this footprint.

The proposed State intervention under the NBP represents a potentially very significant capital investment project for the State and the Government is firmly committed to delivering this investment, as evidenced in the National Broadband Plan itself and in the Programme for Government.

The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie shows the current extent of the State Intervention area. The map shows Ireland with two colours, BLUE and AMBER.

-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,  

- The AMBER areas on the map show 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 30 megabits per second 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. 

My Department is actively monitoring the commercial deployment plans in the BLUE areas to ensure that all premises can get access to services.  In this regard, direct feedback from consumers is important and if customers in these areas cannot access high speed broadband services, I would encourage them to contact my Department directly at broadband@dccae.gov.ie, quoting their address and Eircode and giving details of providers they have contacted with a view to obtaining services. 

My Department is also actively monitoring developments of commercial operators that might impact the Intervention Area.  This is being done in accordance with procedures set out by my Department in December 2015.

A formal procurement process is in train to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network within the State Intervention Area. The Department will shortly update the High Speed Broadband map and finalise this Intervention Area for bidders, taking into account any industry investments that have not materialised in Blue areas, together with new industry investments within the proposed State Intervention Area, along with concrete and credible commitments by industry for further new investments within the Intervention Area.

The procurement process is being intensively managed, to ensure an outcome that delivers a future-proofed network that serves homes and businesses across Ireland, for at least 25 years. Intensive dialogue with bidders is continuing and the three bidders have indicated that they are proposing a predominantly fibre-to-the-home solution.  This provides for a future proofed solution for the  25 years of the contract and beyond.  A fibre-to-the-home solution means that householders and businesses may get speeds not just of 30 Megabits per second but much higher, potentially up to 1000 Megabits per second.  

The timeframe for the procurement continues to be dependent on a range of factors including the complexities that may be encountered by the procurement team and bidders, during the procurement process. During the Department's extensive stakeholder consultations in 2015, telecommunications service providers indicated a 3-5 year timeline to rollout a network of the scale envisaged under the NBP. 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 a further positive initiative, last July, I established a Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce with my colleague Minister Humphreys to address immediate issues in relation to the quality of mobile phone and broadband coverage. The Taskforce report which was published in December, is available at the following link:.

I have signed Regulations allowing ComReg to proceed with the allocation of spectrum in the 3.6GHz band, in early 2017. This will provide an 86% increase in total spectrum available for mobile and fixed wireless services. I have also secured €8m for RTE which will allow it to free up the 700MHz spectrum band, to provide enhanced mobile services.  

These investments should assist in significantly improving the coverage and quality of broadband and mobile voice and data services throughout the country.

My Department carried out the first formal stage of the environmental assessment process by screening the draft National Broadband Intervention Strategy for the need to carry out a full Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and an Appropriate Assessment (AA), in consultation with the prescribed environmental authorities listed in the legislation.  The Department consequently, and in accordance with statutory obligations, issued a determination that a full Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment would be required. 

Consultation on an SEA Scoping Report was then carried out as the next step in the environmental assessment process. The submissions received have been taken into account in the next phase which the Department is currently in the process of completing.  This phase includes the preparation of an Environmental Report and a Natura Impact Statement for consultation.  This consultation will take place in the coming months and will inform the conclusions of the SEA.