Rural Broadband Scheme - Update 2 April 2012
The Application Phase of the RBS closed on 29 July 2011. The Department received 5,000 applications and of these, approximately 3,700 qualified under the terms of the scheme.
The Verification Phase of the Scheme is now underway. The details of applicants have been passed to participating companies and the companies have responded to DCENR indicating where they may be able to offer services. A total of 30 companies are participating in this part of the Scheme and the names of the companies and the areas where they operate can be found here.
Letters were sent to all applicants to let them know the position in relation to their application during February and March and a total of 2011 applicants responded giving their consent to receive written offers of service from the participating companies.
The following table gives an overall picture of the number of applications now in the Scheme and the distribution of those applications at county level.
Applications per County
|
Carlow |
21 |
Cavan |
45 |
Clare |
115 |
Cork |
146 |
|
Donegal |
151 |
Dublin |
46 |
Galway |
96 |
Kerry |
67 |
|
Kildare |
87 |
Kilkenny |
40 |
Laois |
70 |
Leitrim |
56 |
|
Limerick |
37 |
Longford |
81 |
Louth |
37 |
Mayo |
49 |
|
Meath |
97 |
Monaghan |
119 |
Offaly |
135 |
Roscommon |
57 |
|
Sligo |
42 |
Tipperary |
186 |
Waterford |
33 |
Westmeath |
102 |
|
Wexford |
67 |
Wicklow |
29 |
|
|
|
|
Data files with the details of applicants who have given their consent to be contacted by participating companies have been passed to the companies involved and letters with offers of service should be sent by the companies to applicants over the next couple of weeks.
Under the arrangements made between the Department and the companies involved, applicants will not be contacted directly by the companies, other than by the written offer of service already mentioned, until after 20 April 2012. This period is to give applicants the opportunity to consider any offers they may receive.
If you are an applicant and you receive a written offer from a participating company and wish to avail of the offer, you may contact the company directly yourself if you wish.
The companies involved will be seeking to provide services to applicants over the period from the end of April until the end of July 2012. Once this phase of the Scheme is completed, the companies will be returning data to the Department to inform us of the outcome.
It is expected that a significant number of applicants will be served by commercial operators as part of this phase of the scheme. If any applicants remain un-served after this phase, a service will have to be procured by the Department and our target is to have this rolled out by the end of this year.
Rural Broadband Scheme - Background
The Rural Broadband Scheme has been established to enable a basic broadband service to be provided to individual rural premises which are not capable of obtaining a broadband service from existing internet service providers.
The Scheme has been set up in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture as a measure under the Rural Development Plan using funding from the European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development.
Areas covered by the Rural Broadband Scheme
How will the scheme work?
There will be a number of phases in the Scheme. The application Phase of the scheme, which ran from the 9th May 2011 until 29th July 2011 is now closed and applications are being processed. If you made an application in the run up to the closing date, you will receive an acknowledgement letter shortly.
In the second phase of the Scheme, the Department will check with existing internet service providers to see if they are willing to provide a service to the premises concerned. If they are willing to provide a service, we will write to you and ask your permission to be contacted by the companies concerned. If a service can be provided to you in this way, your application under the scheme will be closed.
If none of the companies concerned are prepared to offer you a service, then your application will progress to the next phase in the Scheme. We will write to you at that stage and let you know. We expect the second Phase of the Scheme to commence in January 2012 at the latest.
In the third phase of the Scheme, the Department will engage an internet service provider who will offer a basic internet service to applicants. We will pass the details of all applicants to this service provider who will contact the applicants and offer them the service. While the Department will be paying part of the cost of the infrastructure necessary to provide a service under this Scheme, the applicant will be responsible for paying the costs of the service itself. This may include some upfront connection costs as well as monthly charges for the service. Further details of the service and related costs will become available once the Service Provider has been selected. You will not be obliged to take up the offer of a service under this Scheme.
The Scheme should be completed by the end of 2012 at the latest.
Data Protection
In order for the Scheme to operate successfully, it will be necessary to give an applicant's details (Name, address and phone number) to service providers to assess whether they can offer you a service. You will not be contacted by service providers participating in the scheme unless you give your prior written permission.
It will not be possible to accept an application under the scheme without being able to allow service providers to contact you.
Press Releases
Rural Broadband Scheme announced by Minister Rabbitte 9/5/2011.doc
Rural Broadband Scheme Progress Update 08/07/2011
