Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) was published in August 2012.  Progress continues to be made in delivering on this Government’s commitment to ensure every household and business in Ireland has access to high speed broadband, regardless of where they are located. The National Broadband Plan (NBP) 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, including over the last 12 months 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.

For those areas that will not be covered by commercial operators the State has committed to intervene and subsidise a network build. The procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State Intervention area 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.

My Department will shortly update the High Speed Broadband map to finalise the Intervention Area for this procurement, taking into account industry investments that have not fully materialised in the Blue area, along with concrete and credible commitments by industry for further new investments within the State Intervention area.

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.