Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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51. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the timeframe for the national broadband plan and the measures contained to ensure equality in the roll-out of broadband services for rural areas, rural communities and regional towns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48678/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I provided an outline on the current status of the National Broadband Plan in my response to earlier questions on today's order paper.  The Deputy will be aware the aim of the NBP is to ensure high speed broadband access to all premises in Ireland, regardless of location.  The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector so that today over 65% of premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband and this is set to increase to 77% by the end of 2018 and to 90% by the end of 2020.

  My Department is engaged in an on-going procurement process to select a company or companies who will roll-out the new high speed broadband network for the State led intervention. A significant milestone in that process was reached in September with the submission of Detailed Solutions by two bidders. These Detailed Solutions are being evaluated by my Department’s specialist NBP team. This is the last stage of the procurement process before receipt of final tenders and progression to the appointment of a preferred bidder or bidders.

I recognise the importance of availability of high speed connectivity for all premises in Ireland and the frustration for communities that do not currently have access to this level of connectivity. Delivering high speed connectivity to all 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 or bidders to ensure the most efficient deployment as part of the contract.  In the interim, practical initiatives will continues to be addressed through the work of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce to address obstacles and improve connectivity in respect of existing and future mobile phone and broadband services.