Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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85. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when his Department first announced plans to introduce the national broadband plan; the dates on which various Ministers held press conferences to publicise it; the expected commencement and completion dates given by Ministers at each of these press conferences; the current projected commencement and completion date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21560/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The 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.

Through the NBP the Government has committed to intervening to ensure high speed broadband is available in parts of the country where commercial providers acting alone will not provide this essential service. This commitment to intervene will ensure that no part of Ireland, no household, no school, no business is left behind.

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.

I set out in reply to Question Nos. 72 of 6 December 2016 the position is relation to previous announcements on the development of the NBP.  The updated position is as follows:

- On the 4 April 2017 I signed a commitment agreement with eir in relation to its plans to provide broadband to an additional 300,000 premises;

- I also published on 4 April an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie which gives certainty to the bidders in terms of the State Intervention Area for the procurement process.  This is an important milestone as it means that bidders can progress their business plans and the Department can move to the next stage of the procurement;  

- On 5 April I held a briefing for Deputies and Senators in Leinster House to update on progress.

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 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 finalisation of the State Intervention Area for the procurement process is an important milestone as it means that bidders can progress their business plans and the Department can move to the next stage of the procurement.  The  three bidders have indicated that they are proposing a predominantly fibre-to-the-home solution. 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 once contracts are in place.

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.

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

In this regard, in July 2016, together with Minister Humphreys I established the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce to identify immediate solutions to broadband and mobile phone coverage deficits and investigate how better services could be provided to consumers prior to the full build and roll-out of the network planned under the National Broadband Plan State intervention. The report of the Task Force was published in December and is available on the Departments website.  In producing this report, the Task Force worked with Departments, local authorities, ComReg, State agencies, the telecoms industry and other key stakeholders. The report contains 40 actions that will alleviate some of the telecommunications deficits across Ireland and the implementation programme on mobile phone and broadband access identifies 19 of these actions as areas where immediate and direct action by Departments and State agencies can ensure accelerated benefits to consumers.

The work of the Task Force is being led by an Implementation Group.  This group brings together all key stakeholders identified in the Task Force report with responsibility for delivery of actions. This group will formally report every 90 days on progress made on all actions to both myself and Minister Humphreys. I am expecting the first such quarterly report in May.

In addition, I have signed regulations allowing ComReg to proceed with a 2017 allocation of spectrum in the 3.6 GHz radio spectrum band. This will provide an 86% increase in total spectrum available for mobile and fixed wireless services. 

In my Department's Estimates for 2017, I have secured an €8 million provision for RTE to allow it to free up the 700 MHz spectrum band. ComReg in turn will make plans to allocate this spectrum to provide for significantly enhanced mobile coverage. The 700 MHz band is particularly suited to rural environments where the signal can travel long distances.

These initiatives should assist in enhancing the quality of mobile phone and data services across Ireland and particularly in rural Ireland.