Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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43. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources his plans to tackle broadband deficits in blackspots such as Legan and Ardagh, County Longford, in the period while the national broadband plan is out to tender and before it is implemented, in view of the damage this deficit is causing to local businesses on an ongoing basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13184/17]

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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68. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he is engaging with the private sector adequately to ensure accessibility to broadband coverage in south County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13696/17]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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72. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the status of the implementation of the Dáil Éireann approved Private Members' business motion on rural broadband of July 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13883/17]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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79. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the status of the implementation of the national broadband plan in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13936/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 43, 68, 72 and 79 together.

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 rollout 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 www.broadband.gov.ie 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.  

There are circa 88,000 premises in County Kildare, approximately 20,000 (23%) of which are located in the Amber area on the Map, and will benefit from the NBP’s State Intervention.  The remaining c.68,000 (77%) premises are located in the commercial blue area and will be served by commercial operators.

My Department is actively monitoring 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.

I should add, however, that the provision of telecommunications services, including broadband services, is a matter for the service providers concerned who operate in a fully liberalised market, regulated by the independent regulator, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg).  I do not have a statutory authority to require commercial companies to rollout services to particular locations.

The map indicates that the townlands of Legan and Ardagh Demesne County Longford are within the AMBER area and will, therefore, be included in the State Intervention procurement process under the NBP.

Individuals can check whether their premises is in a BLUE or an AMBER area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode.

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. 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.

The Programme for Government also commits to measures to assist in the rollout of the network once a contract is awarded.

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 and a prioritisation programme will be put in place in consultation with the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.

Two Regional Action Groups have been established to work with Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Offices and other relevant agencies to help accelerate broadband rollout in rural Ireland.

The Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce has moved to the Implementation phase.  The Implementation Programme on Mobile Phone and Broadband Access identifies 19 of the 40 Taskforce actions as areas where immediate and direct action by Government Departments and State Agencies can ensure accelerated benefits to consumers. Each of the actions and Implementation Programme has its own timeframe for delivery, see Report:  .

I have signed Regulations allowing ComReg to proceed with the allocation of spectrum in the 3.6GHz band. 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.

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.