Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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1269. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding broadband speed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54693/17]

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 more than 90% (2.1m premises) by the end of 2020. In April 2017, I published an updated High Speed Broadband Map which is available atwww.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 a Commitment Agreement signed with me in April.

The premises referred to by the Deputy falls within an AMBER area and will be able to access a high speed broadband connection via the planned State led intervention under the NBP. I note that the premises is close to eir's ongoing rural deployment of high speed broadband to 300,000 premises. However, decisions made by private telecommunication operators relating to the rollout and siting of infrastructure to provide high speed broadband services are undertaken on a commercial basis by competing service providers operating in a liberalised market and are not decisions in which I have a statutory role.

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 last September are being evaluated by the NBP specialist team.  This is the last stage of the procurement process before moving to the final tender stage and subsequently the appointment of a preferred bidder or bidders. My Department will engage with the winning bidder(s) to ensure the most efficient deployment as part of the contract.

The NBP State led intervention will play an integral role in revitalising businesses across provincial towns and rural Ireland. It will allow rural businesses, such as small enterprises and family farms, to operate and do business on-line as required. 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. 

In the interim, practical initiatives will continue 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.

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.