James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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74. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if all premises covered by the national broadband plan will be connected by 2020; if he is satisfied with the download speeds envisaged under the plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5799/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to deliver high speed broadband services to every city, town, village and individual 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. 

There has been significant progress in relation to broadband roll-out so that today, approximately 1.4m or 61% of premises in Ireland can get high speed broadband of a minimum of 30 Megabits per second. The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector, which is continuing to expand this footprint.

The High Speed Broadband Map, which is available at shows the current 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,  

- 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 30 megabits per second when the procurement process is completed and the network rolled out. 

My Department is actively monitoring the commercial deployment plans in the BLUE areas to ensure that all households and businesses can get access to the 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.  My Department will shortly update the High Speed Broadband map to finalise the Intervention Area for the Procurement process, taking into account 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 roll out a network of the scale envisaged under the NBP. 

In the short-term I am working to ensure measures are put in place to assist in the roll-out of the NBP State Intervention network once a contract is awarded and to improve mobile phone and broadband access in Ireland.

In this regard, I and Minister Humphreys established a Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce in July 2016.  The findings of this Taskforce recommends practical actions that can be taken to remove barriers to and improve mobile phone and broadband access in Ireland. The Taskforce report is available at the following link:

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Minister Humphreys has established two regional action groups, working with Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Offices and other relevant agencies to unlock barriers to investment in mobile and broadband services.  Since July, there has been significant progress made in discussions with the key stakeholders including local authority management representation, Government Departments and State agencies, as well as interaction with ComReg and telecoms operators.

I recently 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.

My Department continues to liaise closely with industry and relevant other Departments and agencies to assist in the commercial deployment of telecommunications networks.

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

I am satisfied that the combination of initiatives, and the procurement process to deliver a new high speed broadband network under the NBP, will put Ireland to the forefront internationally in terms of connectivity, and ensure that high speed broadband services are universally available.