Shannon Region County and Group Broadband Schemes
It gives me great pleasure to be here today to formally launch the County and Group Broadband Schemes in the Shannon Region.
The group broadband scheme is designed to promote the rollout of broadband access through the establishment of sustainable broadband services in towns, villages, rural hinterlands and underserved areas of large towns on the basis of local and regional authority coordination and community-driven initiatives.
It is clear from the 29 projects approved for the Shannon region that the group broadband scheme has been embraced and driven with great enthusiasm and effort across the counties of Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Offaly. This has resulted in grant aid of almost €900,000 being approved for the provision of broadband in the region representing a capital investment of approximately €3 million.
Shannon Broadband Ltd in association with Shannon Development and in partnership with the region’s locals authorities, Clare County Council, Limerick City Council, Limerick County Council, North Tipperary County Council, Offaly County Council and the Mid West Regional Authority must be acknowledged for their involvement in embedding broadband roll out initiatives. It is encouraging to see the Shannon catchment embracing the opportunities for new technological developments and this augurs well for the future of the region.
I now want to turn to the community groups and service providers. They have to be equally commended for their enthusiasm, commitment and innovation in bringing their projects to fruition. I understand that nine of the projects are now up and running and a further nine will be ready very shortly. I am delighted to be present at the start of a new era of broadband connectivity in the Shannon region and I wish all the projects every success.
I might add that I will be launching another round of Group Broadband Scheme funding over the coming weeks and this will provide an opportunity to other communities in the region without broadband to avail of grant aid funding.
Broadband is arguably the most important development of the past decade, and within a very few years it has become the single most important technology for business, commerce, education, health and a huge contributor to social inclusion. The Government believes that the availability of open-access telecoms infrastructure is necessary for the attraction of business and investment opportunities to the regions.
Shannon Broadband Ltd has played an important role in the wider broadband developments currently taking place in the Shannon region. Shannon Broadband Ltd has built the Limerick Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) under Phase I of the MANs Programme and it will be delivering an additional 8 MANs in Kilrush, Abbeyfeale, Newcastlewest, Roscrea, Templemore, Nenagh, Birr and Banagher under Phase II. It is expected that construction should start in Q 3 this year and the networks should be built and operational before the end on 2007.
The national schools broadband project is also progressing well. There are 3,900 first and second level schools nationwide and almost 3,000 have been connected to broadband so far. 75% of all schools have had broadband installed and the remaining schools should be broadband enabled by the end of March 2006.
The small projects under the Group Broadband Scheme together with the MANs and Schools programmes are all contributing to the development of broadband on a national scale.
There has been much adverse commentary recently about the availability of broadband in Ireland. A principal reason for the slow rollout of broadband services generally has been the lack of investment by the private sector in suitable infrastructure. The aforementioned MANs project is designed to address this infrastructure deficit by building its networks on an open access basis.
Demand for broadband services is also a significant factor in the further development of the market. I launched a discussion paper on broadband demand in Ireland on 1st January 2006 and I have invited comments by Wednesday 1st March 2006. A copy of the paper is on the website of my Department and I would be glad to receive any comments you may have on this important topic.
In conclusion, it is fair to say that the broadband agenda is alive and well in the Shannon Region as demonstrated by the activity on a number of fronts by the wide range of organisations and companies here today. I wish you all every success as you continue in your mission to connect the region and may you reap the rewards of having a vibrant IT population in the years ahead.
ENDS