Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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53. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he will publish the report of the recent audit of the metropolitan area networks. [5737/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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My Department concluded an internal review of the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) Programme in autumn last year.  This review involved a detailed retrospective review of the performance of the MANs in terms of the delivery of their policy objectives, an identification of the challenges facing the MANs, and an assessment of their ongoing relevance in the current telecommunications market.  The analysis focussed on their future role, and options relating to future ownership structure and governance arrangements in the context of market and Government policy developments.

As part of the review process, the Department undertook a stakeholder engagement exercise with industry players on a confidential basis due to the commercial sensitivity of issues for the companies concerned.

The review found that the MANs have played, and continue to play, an important role in driving competition in the regions and attracting foreign direct investment to the cities and towns where they are located.  The creation of the MANs as an exclusive fibre network facilitates service providers, large and small, in responding to the ongoing growth in demand for bandwidth capacity.  Discontinuation of MAN services now or in the immediate future would be a major disruption of telecommunications services in regional Ireland.

I have asked my officials to examine the review report with a view to making relevant non-commercial extracts publically available as soon as possible, while respecting confidentiality assurances given to industry players involved in the review process.