Fergus O'Dowd
Question:280 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the position regarding a broadband proposal for Ardee, Drogheda and Dundalk, County Louth. [17456/03]
Written Answers. - Telecommunications Services.
The provision of telecommunications services is a matter in the first instance for the private sector companies operating in a fully liberalised market. However, in order to more rapidly achieve the Government's stated aim of open-access, affordable, always-on broadband infrastructure and services, approximately €200 million of funding under the National Development Plan 2000-2006 is being utilised to leverage and accelerate investment in competitive advanced infrastructure and services, to enhance the potential for the development of electronic commerce, and to enable the electronic provision of public services, including education, welfare and health services.
My Department has run a number of programmes of targeted intervention in recent years. Under the National Development Plan 1994-1999 and INTERREG II, over €26.5 million was made available to support 13 projects which rolled-out broadband infrastructure nationwide. One of the projects funded under this measure was the Esat rollout of fibre optic cable in many urban areas, including Dundalk. The 4.5 kilometre Dundalk ring allows the provision of first-class telecommunications services to such locations as Dundalk Regional Technical College, the Finnabair Industrial Estate and the Coes Road Industrial Estate.
On foot of submissions received following the first Call for Proposals in 2000, nine contracts were signed which will result in additional investment in the regions in broadband infrastructure and increased availability of broadband services for business and residential users. The projects involved are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2003 and include the construction of a new national fibre backbone by ESB Telecoms, which will serve both Drogheda and Dundalk, and Esat BTs rollout of Digital Subscriber Lines in 40 locations including Drogheda.
Eircom upgraded its exchange in Drogheda as a matter of urgency in recent months and is now in a position to offer Digital Subscriber Line services on 17,000 lines in the town. Esat BTs DSL service has been available to Drogheda customers since autumn 2002. I also understand that eircom offers DSL services on 16,000 lines in Dundalk. For technical reasons, subscribers need to be within approximately 3.5 kilometres of a DSL-enabled telephone exchange in order to avail of DSL services. The rollout is proceeding as quickly as possible; it is expected that 145 exchanges nationwide will have DSL by July 2003, and eircom plans to have 1.2 million telephone lines DSL-enabled by March 2004.
Following the second call for proposals, the interdepartmental working group on telecommunications recommended in March 2002 the design and construction of metropolitan area fibre networks in 19 towns and cities across the country. These networks are now under construction, and will be coming into service from later this year. My Department is currently giving active consideration to the construction of additional metropolitan area networks in the north-east.
My Department is also exploring the potential of wireless-based technology to promote the deployment of broadband, particularly in remote areas. Pilot projects utilising wireless local area network, LAN, technologies are currently under way to assess their suitability for the delivery of advanced broadband services in the regions. One of these trial projects is being conducted by Digiweb in County Louth, and I expect the final report on the trials to be submitted in October 2003.