Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In December 2022, my Department published Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy which supports the ambition outlined in the National Digital Strategy and sets out a number of ambitious targets, including that:

• all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028;
• all populated areas will be covered by 5G no later than 2030, and
• digital connectivity will be delivered to all schools and broadband connection points by 2023.

These targets will be achieved through a combination of commercial investments and through the State investment in National Broadband Ireland (NBI).

The Digital Connectivity Strategy will lead to more balanced regional development, supporting the green transition, facilitating greater access to regional talent and skills and will assist with the implementation of the Government’s Remote Working Strategy, Our Rural Future: Rural Development Policy 2021-2025, and Project Ireland 2040.

Commercial operators’ fibre rollouts are progressing at pace. Open eir have already passed over 34,200 homes and businesses in Mayo with gigabit services, with plans to pass a further c.14,000 homes and businesses over the next 2 – 3 years, bringing their total fibre-based investment in the county to over €26m. Other commercial operators are also continuing to increase their network footprint right across Mayo, with SIRO recently passing over 5,000 premises for full fibre, and Virgin Media passing over 7,600 premises.

Along with the progress made by commercial operators’ in expanding their next generation networks throughout the State, the National Broadband Plan intervention contract provides for the roll out of a high speed and future-proofed broadband network to primarily rural areas. The intervention area covers over 1.1 million people living and working in over 560,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with some 679 schools.

I am advised by NBI that, over 212,000 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. Over 62,300 premises are already connected to the NBP high-speed broadband network. In the Deputy’s own county of Mayo, over 7,300 premises are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection with 2,176 premises now connected.

Further details are available on specific areas within County Mayo can be monitored via nbi.ie/reps. A county update can be selected to provide the overall number of premises in the Intervention Area, the overall NBP investment in the county, the number of premises passed and connected to date and the status of each of the Deployment Areas with the anticipated date for connection over the lifetime of the project. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.

To date, the level of connections is exceeding initial projections. NBI are connecting circa 3,500 homes each month and expect to have connected over 65,000 by year end. NBI expect to have passed in excess of 300,000 premises by the end of 2024 with circa 120,000 premises passed each year thereafter until the end of deployment at which point over 560,000 will be passed.

On average, almost 30% of premises passed have been connected to date, which exceeds expectations in terms of the connection rate of premises availing of the network so soon after it is available. Some areas have over 40% take up to date. The overall target rate of connections over the coming 5 years is 80% and NBI remain confident they will achieve this.

Starting from February 1, 2022, the sanctions regime for network construction came into effect. It enforces performance requirements for NBI's network building. Delays in milestone completion result in financial sanctions. These sanctions, calculated and imposed in accordance with the contract, will persist throughout the program.

After network construction, the contract includes sanctions for NBI's operational performance based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These KPIs cover factors such as time to connect premises, upload and download speeds, and fault repair. Non-compliance with contract requirements will result in performance points and credits being deducted from subsidy payments.

Recent ComReg data shows that Quarter 2 of 2023 saw a 7.4% increase in fibre broadband subscriptions compared to the first 3 months of the year, and a 33.7% increase when compared to Quarter 2 of 2022. This demonstrates that take-up of fibre connectivity for homes and businesses is increasing substantially as it is deployed to areas where it had previously been unavailable. The same ComReg data also indicates that c. 40% of homes and business throughout the State now have access to gigabit services through either fibre (576,856) or cable (359,669) infrastructure.