Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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178. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the engagement that has occurred between National Broadband Ireland and third-party broadband companies in relation to providing additional fibre broadband infrastructure to premises that do not have a fibre broadband connection in place and are situated in the amber area in which the private operators have capacity to provide a service. [52796/22]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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National Broadband Ireland (NBI) have advised that they have run a tender process for the provision of alternative solutions that would complement the NBI build, while delivering the NBP specified Broadband Product and its associated SLA's. Five providers passed the Prequalification stage and were provided with the Tender documentation to respond.  Three of the qualified bidders provided a response to the tender. One of the three subsequently withdrew from the process, leaving 2 providers to enter the Product Testing phase of the Tender process.

The Product Testing trials to validate that the proposed products meet the NBP specification are in progress at present. Subject to successful completion of the technical validation commercial evaluation of the proposals will begin.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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179. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will clarify the roll-out of broadband by National Broadband Ireland to over 670 schools across the country; if additional broadband hubs will be put in place in community facilities in rural areas in which broadband connectivity will not be in place in homes and businesses for at least another three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52797/22]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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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. Some 758 BCP sites have been installed by NBI to date and the high-speed broadband service will be connected 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. My Department has prioritised primary schools with no high-speed broadband and continues to work with the Department of Education in this regard.

Government and NBI have agreed to accelerate the rollout of high-speed broadband to 679 schools across the State. This will ensure that by the middle of next year all schools across the State will have the necessary infrastructure to carry out their critical day to day educational activities unimpeded by poor broadband.

To date 479 schools have been installed by NBI to date for educational access. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education to prioritise schools with no high-speed broadband, within the Intervention Area. Further details of schools in scope are available on the NBI website at nbi.ie/primary-schools-list/.

The Department of Rural and Community Development have advised that in the coming months, in consultation with Public BCP stakeholders, officials will draft a development strategy for the Public BCP Network. This strategy will set out a number of ambitions and opportunities and will guide decisions on future supports, partnerships and the scope to improve and broaden services. Among the items for consideration will be the issue of inviting additional premises, that have access to high-speed broadband, into the Public BCP network.

The current focus of the Public BCP project is to complete the rollout of the sites which are already within the project plan. It is expected that all Public BCPs will be completed and live in Quarter 1 of 2023.  When completed, the Public BCP network will have a presence in every county in the State and in some of our most rural and isolated communities, including many off-shore islands.  As the site connection rate grows, the Department of Rural and Community Development will work with local authorities and the committees that manage the Public BCPs to improve services and drive demand for the use of these sites.