Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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201. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the planned rollout of fibre optic broadband will commence in areas (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48331/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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In April I published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available at www.broadband.gov.ie. This map shows the areas targeted by commercial operators to provide high speed broadband services and the areas that will be included in the State Intervention Area under the National Broadband Plan (NBP). The Map is searchable by eircode. 

The map shows Ireland with three colours:

- The AMBER areas represent the target areas for the proposed State led Intervention under the NBP and are the subject of an ongoing  procurement process. 

- The BLUE represent those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high speed broadband services. 

- The Light BLUE areas represent eir's commercial rural deployment plans to rollout high speed broadband to 300,000 premises by the end of 2018 as part of an Agreement signed with me in April.

The table below details percentage of premises, with the approximate number of premises in brackets, to be covered by the State led Intervention and through commercial investment in the areas identified by the Deputy. Individuals can access the High Speed Broadband Map www.broadband.gov.ie using their eircode to ascertain the colour code (BLUE/Light BLUE or AMBER) status for their specific home or business.

Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available from eir at. Citizens can access this website to determine the connectivity availability status for their premises using their eircode.  The website also provides a list of retail service providers who offer services using high speed fibre network in the area. 

My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area. That procurement process is now at an advanced stage.  “Detailed Solutions” submitted by two bidders on 26th September are being evaluated by the NBP specialist team. The next stage in the procurement process is the receipt of final tenders followed by the appointment of a preferred bidder(s) and contract signature.

As part of this procurement process, the bidder(s) will be required to submit their strategies, including timescales, for the network build and rollout.  Delivering connectivity to the 542,000 premises that fall within the State led intervention under the NBP remains a Government priority and my Department will engage with the winning bidder(s) to ensure the most efficient deployment as part of the contract.

To improve both mobile and broadband services in rural Ireland in advance of the rollout of the high speed broadband network to be built in the State intervention area I established, in July 2016, a Taskforce to identify solutions which can be implemented in the short, medium and long term to alleviate mobile phone and broadband coverage deficits, to identify priority areas for rollout and investigate how better services could be provided to consumers. These solutions will enhance the existing services prior to the full build and rollout of the network planned under the NBP State led intervention. 

Under this Taskforce, engagement between telecommunications operators and local authorities through the Broadband Officers is continuing to strengthen.  These Broadband Officers are acting as single points of contact in local authorities for their communities.  The appointment of these officers is already reaping rewards in terms of ensuring a much greater degree of consistency in engagements with operators and clearing obstacles to developing infrastructure.  There is a link to a list of these local Broadband Officers on my Department's website.