In Question No. 35 of 20 June 2024 reference was made to a ‘unified mobile phone network’ which the Deputy refers to here as a ‘universal mobile coverage proposal’. An approach was made to my Department in 2022 by one operator regarding a concept they described as a Shared Rural Network. The operator described the concept as being similar in nature to an initiative being undertaken in the United Kingdom.
That approach to my Department was made during the period when the process for the Multiband Spectrum Award 2022 was being progressed. The Multiband Spectrum Award 2022 released significant amounts of new spectrum to the market for the provision of more 4G and 5G services. It concluded in January 2023 with the award of spectrum licenses to the mobile network operators.
In designing this spectrum award process the independent regulator, ComReg, commissioned independent economic analyses about the best approach to placing geographic coverage obligations on the operators and consulted widely with industry stakeholders, including the operators, and with my Department. The Multiband Spectrum Award 2022 saw a rebalancing of focus on both wider geographic coverage as well as population coverage.
The spectrum licences awarded in 2023 include legal commitments from the operators to provide: a 3 Mbit/s service to 99% of the population and 92% of the geographic area of Ireland; a 30 Mbit/s service to 95% of the population, 90% of motorways, and 80% of primary roads; and a 30 Mbit/s service to 345 specific locations, consisting of 40 business and technology parks, 65 hospitals, 24 higher education campuses, 14 air and seaports, 160 train and bus stations, and 42 top visitor attraction information points. In considering these specific locations ComReg had regard to the output of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce which provided a guidance report on the broad categories of locations where mobile services should be made available based on a ranking of the benefits (economic, societal, safety) of different location categories.
