Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte today launched a plan of action to roll out broadband with minimum speeds of 30Mb/s to every citizen in Ireland.
Entitled Delivering a Connected Society – A National Broadband Plan for Ireland, the plan outlines a scheme to deliver connections from 70- to 100- Mb/s to half the population by 2015; 40Mb/s to a further 20%; and 30Mb/s in remote areas. The cost of implementing the plan is expected to be in the region of €175 million coming from a mix of public funds and industry partnerships.
If successful, the plan would put Ireland ahead of targets set by the European Commission’s Digital Plan for Europe, which seeks to provide high quality broadband across the urban/rural divide; facilitate competition and lower prices through local loop unbundling; and develop radio spectrum policy for the management of 3G and 4G licences.
According to EU statistics for 2011, Ireland remains below the EU average of 27.7% fixed line penetration at 24.3% (16th place of 27 member states) but above the average for mobile broadband (60% versus 40.1%). Only 4.3% of fixed line connections deliver speeds between 30- and 100- Mb/s and only .4% above 100Mb/s), the vast majority still only receive speeds of 10Mb/s or less.
Launching the plan at the Croke Park Conference Centre this morning Minister Rabbitte said: "These are dramatic increases in speeds – particularly for those outside urban centres who often can only access 1Mb/s or 2Mb/s today. The faster speeds will come from ongoing industry investment, the release, this year, of spectrum for 4G mobile services and from State investment to address market failure. Notwithstanding the constraints imposed on the exchequer at present, Government will intervene where – but only where – it is evident that the market will not deliver. Ireland’s population is more broadly dispersed than that of many other countries so reaching the target will require State investment to encourage the private sector to offer services which would not otherwise make commercial sense.
"This Plan lays the foundation for further momentum along our path to recovery. The resulting high speed broadband will be crucial for innovation, crucial for job creation and crucial for the continued attraction of inward investment to Ireland. The emphasis on universal access will ensure balanced benefits, delivering the connected society, at higher speeds, to all."
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