Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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414. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the procurement process for the national broadband plan; the status and timeframe of the work carried out in the process to date; when the procurement process will be complete; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52942/17]

Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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415. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the areas in County Mayo and the number of households that will be designated and included in the category of State intervention areas in relation to the implementation of the national broadband plan, in tabular form; when roll-out of the project will commence; when the project will be completed; if the plan and roll-out will include the provision of fibre broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52943/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 414 and 415 together.

The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) 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 67% of the 2.3m premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. This is set to increase to 77% (1.8m premises) by the end of 2018 and to 90% (2.1m premises) by the end of 2020.

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 colour coded and searchable by address/eircode:

- The  AMBER areas represent the target areas for the proposed State led Intervention under the NBP and are the subject of an on-going 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 map shows that over 36,000 (44%) premises in Mayo fall within the AMBER area. Nearly 32,000 (38%) fall within the BLUE area and approximately 14,500 (18%) are LIGHT BLUE.

Individuals can themselves check whether their premises are in an AMBER, BLUE or LIGHT BLUE area by accessing the High Speed Broadband Map and entering their Eircode at www.broadband.gov.ie.

In December 2015 my Department began a formal procurement process to select a bidder or bidders who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area. Having moved through the Pre-qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and Invitation to Participate in Dialogue (ITPD) stages, 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.  My Department will engage with the winning bidder(s) to ensure the most efficient deployment as part of the contract. Bidders have indicated to officials in my Department that they intend to use a mostly Fibre to the Home solution for the State intervention network.

Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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416. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the actions being taken to ensure that commercial operators follow through on their commitments to deliver high-speed broadband services to areas marked in blue and light blue on the high-speed broadband map; the deadline within which such works must be completed by commercial operators; the estimated completion dates for each blue and light blue area in County Mayo, in tabular form; if there is a provision for redesignation of these areas as State intervention areas if the services are not delivered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52944/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Government's National Broadband Plan (NBP) aims to ensure high speed broadband access (minimum 30 megabits per second) 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 67% of the 2.3m premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband and this is set to increase to 77% (1.8m premises) by the end of 2018 and to 90% (2.1m premises) by the end of 2020.

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 colour coded and searchable by address/eircode:

- 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.

In April 2017, I signed a Commitment Agreement with eir in relation to its plans to provide High speed broadband to 300,000 premises in rural areas on a commercial basis. Under the terms of this Commitment Agreement, eir has committed to passing these premises by the end of 2018. The number of premises to be passed every quarter is set out in the Commitment Agreement a copy of which is available on my Department's website www.dccae.gov.ie.

Estimated deployment dates are provided for the eir's rural deployment on its website www.fibrerollout.ie. The following table indicates the estimated dates relating to eir's rural deployment in Co. Mayo.

As per the obligations of the Commitment Agreement, officials from my Department meet with eir on a monthly basis to review the company's performance. The purpose of these review meetings is for eir to report progress against each sub-milestone task and also to identify any risks or issues and their associated risk mitigation plans. These sub-milestones cover the tasks that are required to deliver high speed broadband to premises within the Planned Rural Deployment area. A detailed definition of each sub-milestone is provided in the Commitment Agreement.

Following evaluation by officials from my Department of eir's Q3 progress report I can confirm that eir has met its Q3 2017 milestone of 101,000 premises passed.

There is provision within the Commitment Agreement for the re-designation of the LIGHT BLUE areas as State intervention areas. The Commitment Agreement provides the Minister with the right to change the Intervention area and incorporate premises from the LIGHT BLUE area into the AMBER area where eir fail to fulfil their obligations under the Agreement.

There is no commitment agreement in place with commercial operators for the BLUE areas of the High Speed Broadband Map. However, my Department continues to monitor deployment progress and any issues that arise.  Where commercial plans to provide access to high speed broadband to premises within a BLUE area do not materialise, it is my intention that the implementation of the NBP will ultimately overcome these issues and that all premises will be able to access high-speed broadband services.

Through the work of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce practical initiatives will continue to address obstacles and improve connectivity in respect of existing and future mobile phone and broadband services.

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.