Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 September 2023
106. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications for an update on the National Broadband Plan in County Meath; the number of premises passed to date; the number of connections; the planned schedule for the remainder of the plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41788/23]
View answerIn 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).
Commercial operators’ fibre rollouts are progressing at pace. Open eir, as part of their IFN fibre programme currently rolling out nationwide, plan to connect over 1.9m premises to their commercial fibre network by 2026. Open eir have already passed almost 44,000 homes and businesses with gigabit services in Co. Meath, with a further c.22,000 planned connections over the next 2 – 3 years, bringing their total fibre-based investment in the county to over €32m. Other commercial operators are also continuing to increase their network footprint across County Meath, with SIRO passing more than 20,000 premises and Virgin Media passing more than 18,000 premises.
National Broadband Ireland (NBI)is currently rolling out of a high speed and future-proofed broadband network to primarily rural areas through its Contract with the Minister. 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, as of 15th September 2023, 182,250 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. 53,695 premises are already connected to the NBP high-speed broadband network. Over 3,000 premises are connecting to the NBI network every month. NBI has also advised that as of 15th September, 3,413 premises in County Meath have been passed by NBI and are available for immediate connection, with 834 of those now connected to the NBP State Intervention network.
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 15th September some 950 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. Further details can be found at nbi.ie/bcp-locations/.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Meath 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.
Recent ComReg data shows that Quarter 2, 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 massively as it’s 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 or cable infrastructure and this continue increase month on month as operators continue to invest heavily in gigabit networks across the State.
