Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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512. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a new access network will impact on the subsidy provided for the national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43542/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Under EU State Aid guidelines, it is a requirement that Member States thoroughly evaluate commercial plans so as to ensure that State Aid is confined to areas of well-defined market failure, where commercial investment is unlikely to occur in the near future. My Department recently consulted publicly to close the National Broadband Plan ongoing mapping exercise, seeking submissions from operators who wish to have their existing high speed broadband networks, or who have developed plans to invest in high speed broadband networks over the next 7 years, to be included on the Department’s High Speed Broadband Map (available at ). Over 180 submissions have been received from a variety of stakeholders, including 30 from large and small telecoms operators, with the remainder from local authority broadband officers and members of the public.Operator submissions will be assessed against the Department’s published assessment criteria. Operators submitting planned investments were required to sign a declaration that they would enter into a Commitment Agreement with the Department if their plans satisfied the assessment criteria and were accepted by the Department as being concrete and credible.

The findings of the consultation will ensure that the State Intervention Area is up to date and reflects commercial operators’ plans and the responses from householders and businesses, in advance of a contract being signed later this year. This will be an important element in concluding the State Aid approval process with the EU Commission.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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513. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if a recent settlement and agreement to consult on the matter of the appropriate level of costs for FTTH connections will impact on the subsidy for the national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43543/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Following the settlement reached between the independent regulator ComReg and Sky Ireland Limited (“Sky”) in respect of proceedings related to aspects of ComReg Decision D10/18, I understand that ComReg has confirmed that it plans to publish (Q1 2020) a consultation that will, inter-alia, address the design and costs associated with the provision of fibre access network, and prices for a number of existing access products. According to ComReg, the consultation will consider the appropriate level of costs of FTTH connections and migrations. The requirements relating to the cost to connect premises in the NBP intervention area are governed by the NBP contract. The standard wholesale connection charge that will apply in the case of a connection for a house or business to the NBP network will be a one-off charge of €100 (ex VAT). As is the norm with connection charges for access to wholesale networks such as the NBP network, National Broadband Ireland will charge the retail service provider (such as eir, Vodafone, Sky, Imagine etc) this fee and it will be a matter for the retailer as to whether or not it passes this one-off cost to the consumer.