Ryans Lies to Rural Ireland

Telecommunications Services.

5. Deputy Simon Coveney asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the strategy he supports for an efficient and speedy roll out of broadband to all parts of the country; the timeframe that this can be achieved in; the way the Government will support the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23171/07]
Deputy Eamon Ryan:

The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband, is a matter for the private sector. Broadband service providers operate in a fully liberalised market regulated, where appropriate, by the independent Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg.

Nevertheless, the widespread provision of broadband services is a major priority for the Government. In this context, the primary role of the Government is to formulate regulatory and infrastructure policies to facilitate the provision of high quality telecommunications services, by competing private sector service providers.

Broadband penetration has increased significantly in recent years. Penetration levels have increased to 698,000 subscribers which, by OECD measures, is the equivalent of 16.48% of the population. This compares to less than 1% in 2002.


As a result, Ireland has improved its position internationally and Government action through provision of an optimal regulatory regime and targeted infrastructural investment will continue to support this performance. In the latter context, the State has undertaken initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage. These include providing grant aid under the recently concluded group broadband scheme and investment in metropolitan area networks, known as MANs.


There are still some parts of the country where the private sector will be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband services. Accordingly, the procurement process for a national broadband scheme is under way. The national broadband scheme will provide broadband services to areas that are currently unserved and will ensure that all reasonable requests for broadband in unserved areas are met.


My Department is anticipating that the national broadband strategy contract will be awarded in the second quarter of 2008, with roll out of the services due to begin as soon as possible thereafter. This timeline is subject to negotiations with candidates during the competitive dialogue phase of the procurement process.
The broadband product to be provided under the national broadband scheme will be broadly equivalent to the tariffs and products typically available on the Irish market. The most appropriate mechanism to achieve this aim will be decided during the competitive dialogue process.

Deputy Simon Coveney: I thank the Minister for his reply. It is helpful to know which groups are in the running for the national broadband scheme. I wish to make a reality check for anyone listening to this debate. Ireland is still a long way behind all its direct competitors and many of its European neighbours in terms of broadband connectivity.


A total of 7.8% of the population of County Leitrim have broadband and the total in County Cavan is 9.1%. I contest the Minister’s figures of 16% which he outlined. Independent estimates would put the figure closer to 12% or 13%.

With regard to the Supplementary Estimate of €16.2 million which was mentioned earlier and which we will debate next week, a total of €10 million of that sum has been diverted from information and communications technology programmes.



What is losing out? Will it be broadband roll-out or group broadband schemes?



If so, is the Minister transferring money from IT development and broadband roll-out to the greener homes scheme?

Deputy Eamon Ryan: The figures are OECD figures, which are used most commonly, although many people would criticise them as not providing an accurate picture. However, there are various distortions with whatever statistics one uses. In general, we must aim to be at the top of the international league, regardless of the measures, and we should not concentrate only on narrow percentages. We should aim to have as widespread availability as possible.

The group broadband schemes, numbering approximately 120, were set up to provide local community-based services, often through small local providers. The thinking in the Department was that this did not provide a proper, comprehensive or efficient response to the problem of connectivity in rural isolated areas. That is the reason for the advancement towards a new scheme, the national broadband scheme. It is far more comprehensive and covers all the areas that would not otherwise have coverage. It is a more effective and innovative scheme which I believe will be successful. It involves a competitive bidding process which, hopefully, as we go through that process will allow us to raise the level of service in terms of the speed of broadband and technical capabilities, while reducing the costs.

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I am betting all my many holes on this next bit showing loud and clear in the census

Galway and Dublin ......will show a higher BB penetration than the other cities and thats because price and demand are inextricably linked and those cities have the best gamut of choice and price.

I am also betting each way on the following showing in the census

Galway and Dublin will show a higher household PC penetration than Cork and Limerick because of BB availability ....ie something to do with the PC once you have it .

I am additionally putting cash straight on the nose for this.

Galway and Dublin will show a greater relative growth in the period 2002 (last census page 86 of 126) to 2006 (this census) in Household PC penetration than Cork and Limerick and thats also because of BB availability .


I am so satisfied that the data will bear me out that I am calling this 3 part prediction matrix "The Law of The Sponge" . The predictions will require the averaging of the Dublin and Galway figures and the averaging of the Cork and Limerick figures across both censii in question .

PC Penetration and BB availability are inextricably intertwined. Because the rollout of BB was noticeable in the period from 2004 onwards people started to buy computers on a very large scale.

What comes first though , the computer or the Broadband ?????? Why! Its the Broadband Stoopid !!!`

OTK wrote: »

There's an argument for universal provision of essential services for people who have to live in the country like farmers but that argument isn't so strong for city workers who decide to live in the country because it's a nicer lifestyle and they get to save thousands on their house prices.

The next phase of the procurement process involves inviting candidates to participate in a competitive dialogue process. My Department is anticipating that the award of the NBS contract will be Quarter 2 of 2008, with roll-out of the services due to begin as soon as possible thereafter. This timeline is subject to negotiations with candidates during the competitive dialogue phase of the procurement process.

Questions Telecommunications Services.
Deputy Simon Coveney asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will confirm that, as he stated in a speech to Dáil Éireann on 26 February 2008, all areas that do not have broadband by 1 July 2008 will get broadband under the national broadband scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (Deputy Eamon Ryan):
The role of the Government is to formulate regulatory and infrastructure policies to facilitate the provision of high quality telecommunications services by competing private sector service providers. The widespread provision of broadband services continues to be a priority for the Government. In that regard, my Department has undertaken initiatives to address the gaps in broadband coverage. These include providing grant aid under the recently concluded group broadband scheme and investment in metropolitan area networks, MANs.

There are still parts of the country where the private sector will be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband services. Accordingly, the procurement process for a national broadband scheme is under way. The scheme will provide broadband services for areas currently unserved and ensure all reasonable requests for broadband are met. The first phase of the procurement process - pre-qualification questionnaire - is complete and four candidates pre-qualified to enter the next phase of the process. As my Department indicated on 2 September 2007, the four candidates were, in alphabetical order, BT Communications Ireland Limited consortium, Eircom Limited, Hutchinson 3G Ireland Limited and IFA-Motorola consortium. Following the withdrawal of the IFA-Motorola consortium as a candidate, the remaining three candidates commenced competitive dialogue with my Department and are developing their proposed solutions to meet my Department’s requirements for the delivery of broadband to the unserved areas of the country. It is anticipated that a preferred bidder will be selected and appointed in June 2008, with roll-out to commence as soon as possible thereafter, subject to agreement with the chosen candidate.

Deputy Simon Coveney:
I note we are discussing the issue of broadband again. We will continue to return to it until the Opposition is satisfied the Government is taking it seriously. Is it the case that the map I am holding which I downloaded from the Department’s website represents the Minister’s view on areas covered by broadband? Do the areas shaded in blue represent areas for which a proposal in respect of coverage has been made? Is it, therefore, the case that the national broadband scheme will not apply to any of the areas shaded in red? I understand the Department has indicated to the European Commission that areas shaded in red are off limits to the scheme because they offer a market for broadband. Is that the case?

How does the Minister plan to deal with areas on the map shaded in red which do not have broadband? For example, most of County Leitrim is shaded in red, whereas a recent survey conducted by Leitrim County Council showed that 50% of respondents indicated they had no access to broadband, notwithstanding the price they would be willing to pay. Virtually the whole of County Kilkenny is shaded in red, yet the thick file I am holding contains representations made to a Senator on the non-availability of broadband in the county. Will the Minister clarify the position?

The Minister repeated a statement he made a few weeks ago that all areas which do not have broadband services by 1 July will have broadband delivered through the national broadband scheme. Are areas shaded in red on the Department’s map off-limits for the national broadband scheme?

Deputy Eamon Ryan:
The intent of the national broadband scheme is clear, namely, to ensure broadband services will be available throughout the country. As this is a changing area, it is difficult to state at a given time what precisely are the services being provided. The Department asked the industry to outline in detail which areas would be served. If areas are not served by 1 July, the date at which we intend to commence delivering the national broadband scheme, they will be included in the scheme. While the map will change before the commencement date of 1 July, this date is the test that will determine whether an area will be included in the national broadband scheme. It is sensible and rational to take into account ongoing, changing investment by companies and ensure we target investment available under the support scheme at the areas we want to work best, namely, those for which there is currently not a commercial case for investment.
Deputy Simon Coveney:
How does the Minister square his view with the statement by the Commission for Communications Regulation at a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs that the national broadband scheme would not provide 100% coverage. Mr. Alex Chisholm from ComReg indicated that while the scheme would increase coverage from approximately 85% to approximately 95% of the population, 5% of the population would continue to be excluded from broadband services.

Did the Department not inform the European Commission that the national broadband scheme would apply to areas of its map of broadband coverage shaded in green or blue, that is, areas where there is market failure or potential market failure, respectively, and that it considered areas marked in red to have broadband coverage?

Telecommunications Services.

Deputy Eamon Ryan:
My Department has prepared a draft policy paper on next generation broadband. The paper reviews current communications infrastructure policy and analyses policy options in the light of industry developments regarding the optimum role for the Government in the planning and roll-out of next generation broadband. Two weeks ago I convened a meeting of the expert International Advisory Forum to examine the paper. The forum critiqued draft options and recommendations on how to meet the challenges that lay ahead. The key challenge is getting higher speed broadband at lower cost to more subscribers. The forum members have provided valuable feedback. They supported the broad trust of the document. They also offered some additional recommendations and advice on the future trends of the telecommunications and ICT industries and proposed that certain suggestions be explored further. The draft paper is being updated to reflect the forum’s contribution. It will then be published for public consultation.
Deputy Simon Coveney:
We are back to the issue of broadband again. Why did the Minister believe it was appropriate to appoint an independent advisory forum to advise him on his own policy paper when we could have debated it here in the House? The Opposition tabled a motion on broadband for that very purpose. The Minister said at the time that he supported a serious non-party political debate on the issue. That very week he gave his policy paper to an independent forum he had set up, yet he did not consider it sufficiently important to allow the House to debate the issue. Why did he make that decision?