David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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272. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when a property (details supplied) will be connected to broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19899/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Question refers to a premises located in the AMBER area on the National Broadband Plan (NBP) High Speed Broadband Map which is available on my Department's website www.broadband.gov.ie. The AMBER area represents the area to be served by the network to be deployed under the NBP State led intervention.I appreciate people's frustration when they are living so close to a fibre network but cannot get a connection to that network, particularly given the heightened importance of connectivity during the Covid-19 pandemic. The NBP will ensure that in all such cases a future-proofed high speed broadband network will be built to serve these premises and work to deliver this is underway. 

I am advised by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that, as of 15 April 2021, over 204,000 premises across all counties have been surveyed. Surveys are complete in the areas of Waterford, Ballinakill, Cheekpoint, Waterford City, Passage East, Kilmeaden, Dunmore East and Tramore. The premises referred to in the Question is located in the Waterford deployment area and I am advised that surveys have been completed by NBI in the area and NBI anticipates that build will commence in the area towards the end of this year. 

Further details are available on specific areas within County Waterford through the NBI website which provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register their interest in being provided with deployment updates through its website www.nbi.ie. Individuals who register with this facility will receive regular updates on progress by NBI on delivering the network and specific updates related to their own premises as works commence. I am advised that NBI is working to provide more detail on its website, with a rolling update on network build plans. NBI also has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.

Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) are a key element of the NBP providing high speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll out of the fibre to the home network. As of 15 April, 302 BCP sites have been installed by NBI and the high speed broadband service will be switched on in these locations through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for publicly accessible sites and the Department of Education for school BCPs. BCP’s are installed  at  Knockanore Community Centre, Modeligo Community Hall, Mount Melleray Community Hall and  Ballysaggart Community Centre. Further details can be found at https://nbi.ie/bcp-locations/. 

Whitechurch National School, Faithlegg National School and Saint Mary's National School are  connected as part of this initiative. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education to prioritise schools with no high speed broadband, within the Intervention Area, for connection over the term of the NBP. In this regard, an acceleration of this aspect of the National Broadband Plan was announced in December which will see some 679 primary schools connected to high speed broadband by 2022, well ahead of the original target delivery timeframe of 2026. Further details are available on the NBI website at .

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Eir and Siro’s rural deployment of high speed broadband are commercial undertakings and are not part of the planned State Intervention. Their operations are not funded by the State and are not planned, designed or directed by my Department in any capacity. The decision as to the areas and premises served is made by eir and Siro. They operate in a fully liberalised market regulated by ComReg as the independent regulator. My Department has no statutory authority to intervene in that process.   Notwithstanding this, eir signed a Commitment Agreement with my Department in April 2017 to rollout to circa 300,000 rural premises with fibre to the home. I am advised that Eir has passed over 340,000 premises as part of this project. SIRO is currently completing the first phase of its fibre deployment and I understand that it has now passed 374,000 premises with gigabit services.

Of  the 2.4 million premises across Ireland, 77% of premises now have access to high-speed broadband of more than 30 Mbps. National Broadband Ireland  will  address the remaining premises through the National Broadband Plan State intervention. A number of commercial operators have announced further investment plans in high-speed broadband. Eir has said it will roll out fibre to a further 1.4 million premises, bringing their fibre deployment to some 1.8 million premises.  Virgin Media is offering 250Mbps as a standard offering with 500Mbps and 1Gbps available to many of their customers across more than 1 million premises that they cover. Many other network operators and telecom service providers across the State also continue to invest in their networks.

The latest available ComReg Key Data Report on broadband for Q4, 2020 shows that fixed broadband subscriptions increased to 1.51 million which is an increase of 0.6% for that quarter and an increase of 3.7% compared to Q4, 2019. Of these, over 248k were fibre to the premises (FTTP) subscriptions representing 16.4% of the total fixed broadband in Q4, 2020 which is up from 11.1% in Q4 2019. In Q4, 2020 approximately 81.6% of broadband subscribers had purchased broadband with speeds equal to or greater than 30Mbps. Of all fixed broadband subscriptions 42.5% of subscribers purchased broadband speeds equal to or greater than 100Mbps. According to Eurostat, in 2019 Ireland’s household penetration rate (including fixed and mobile broadband) at 90% is slightly higher than the EU average of 89%.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The National Broadband Plan (NBP) State led Intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) under a contract to roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the Intervention Area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in the over 544,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with 695 schools. The Contract places obligations on NBI in terms of stakeholder engagement throughout the duration of the Project. Elected representatives, including those in Local Authorities, are identified as key stakeholders in this regard. As part of its 2021 communications planning, NBI are undertaking regular one-to-one, group and event-based briefings for both local and national elected representatives. These will continue throughout the year and are complemented by email updates, media activity and social media content targeting information at core stakeholders in line with the roll out of connections in the various deployment areas across the country. In addition, NBI also has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by elected representatives for specific queries.

Given the strategic importance of this project, my Department will also be engaging with elected representatives over the coming months with a view to providing information on the project roll out in their respective areas.