Final 1% of country to get broadband

A new Rural Broadband Scheme which aims to identify the remaining individual premises in rural Ireland unable to obtain a broadband service and to provide them with a service has been announced by Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte. The scheme will be carried out in co-operation with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food under the Rural Development Programme, co-funded by the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development. It aims to ensure that universal broadband access is provided in Ireland by the end of 2012. While the completion of the Government's National Broadband Scheme (NBS) means that broadband services are now available throughout the country, there are remaining un-served rural premises which could not be included in the NBS or which are difficult to reach for mainly technical reasons. The new Rural Broadband Scheme is designed to identify those premises through a public application process and, ultimately, to bring a broadband service to them either through existing private sector service providers or through a service provider procured by Government. "The combination of private and public investment in telecommunications infrastructure has meant over 99 per cent broadband coverage for the whole country," said Mr Rabbitte. "I am now launching this scheme to identify the remaining small percentage of premises that have not been able to procure a broadband service and to provide broadband to such premises which cannot be served by the existing market." He said the Department will be accepting applications for a three-month period starting this week. The new project aims to identify places that cannot currently obtain a service. Once all of these premises have been identified, the next step is to ascertain whether existing telecommunications operators can provide a service directly to these premises. If an existing service provider cannot be identified, the Department will seek to procure a service. The combination of private and public sector programmes in the broadband market will ensure that Ireland reaches the EU target of ubiquitous basic broadband access ahead of the 2013 deadline, the minister said. "The Rural Broadband Scheme will help promote economic and social development in such areas. It will be of particular importance to small-scale rural enterprises who will be able to trade their goods and services over the internet. This scheme will ensure that the remainder of rural premises will be able to get a broadband service and will make broadband available to anyone who wants it by the end of 2012," he said. In tandem with this development, the minister announced that he intends to push ahead with discussions with the telecommunications sector with a view to establishing a roadmap for the delivery of next generation broadband in Ireland in line with the commitments in the Government's National Recovery Programme. Under the NewEra proposals in the Programme for Government, there is a commitment to co-invest with the private sector and commercial semi-State sector to provide next generation broadband to every home and business in the State. Consideration on how best to advance these proposals, for which Minister of State Fergus O'Dowd has responsibility, is being advanced, said the Dept. "In order to accelerate the development of high-speed broadband, my colleague Minister O'Dowd and I intend to engage intensively with industry. To this end, we will be convening the first formal meeting of the Next Generation Broadband Task Force over the coming weeks," added Pat Rabbitte. The task force comprises the CEOs of the major commercial telecommunications companies operating in the Irish market. The discussions will focus on identifying private and State sector investment plans, removal of barriers to investment and establishing appropriate targets and programmes with a view to ensuring that Ireland delivers high-speed broadband to all areas.