Written answers

Thursday, 29 March 2018

Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Broadband Service Provision

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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346. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if his attention has been drawn to the need to upgrade broadband telecommunications infrastructure throughout counties Cavan and Monaghan; the improvements that will be undertaken in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14856/18]

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis 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. Today, almost 7 out of 10 of the 2.3 million premises in Ireland have access to high speed broadband. This will increase to nearly 8 out of 10 premises by the end of this year and by 2020, 9 out of 10 premises will have access to a high speed broadband connection. This is being achieved via a combination of commercial investment and a State led intervention.In April 2017 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 following table details the percentage of premises to be covered by the State Intervention and through commercial investment in Counties Cavan and Monaghan.

CountyTotal PremisesPremises within the NBP Intervention Area (AMBER)Premises within Commercial Operators Area (BLUE)Premises within eir planned rural deployment (LIGHT BLUE)
Cavan41,99116,94219,4395,610
Monaghan32,94515,65514,6682,622

Individuals can check which category their premises falls into by going to my Department’s website www.broadband.gov.ie and entering their eircode into the High Speed Broadband Map.

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. eir has committed to completing the roll-out by the end of this year.  Information on eir's planned rural deployment is available at

.

A copy of the Commitment Agreement is available on my Department’s website www.dccae.gov.ie.

Quarterly updates on eir's rural deployment are published on this website. As of December 2017 eir has passed nearly 4,500 premises in Cavan and Monaghan as part of its roll-out. A further almost 8,000 are scheduled to be passed before the end of this year.

My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area. That procurement process is now in its final stages.

Delivering connectivity to the 542,000 premises (including over 32,500 in Cavan and Monaghan) that fall within the State led intervention under the NBP remains a Government priority and my Department will engage with the winning bidder 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.

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