Ireland - Towards a national broadband strategy, government is consulting on report with 42 recommendations

The Government of Ireland has published the Report of the Next Generation Broadband Taskforce. There is a consultation until the end of May on best to facilitate the provision of high speed broadband. According to the suppliers, more than 50 per cent of Ireland's population would have access to at least 70 Mbps by 2015. The report has 42 recommendations. For example, a stumbling block is access to existing fibre infrastructure – ducts run alongside motorways and co-operation with local authorities in rolling out infrastructure. The Minister, Pat Rabbitte, said every part of Ireland will have broadband by 2013 and will meet EU targets of high-speed broadband for every citizen by 2020. The Taskforce was a collaborative approach between industry and the Departmental of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources aimed at assisting the Government to develop an informed and ambitious National Broadband Plan to achieve “faster broadband to more places as soon as possible”. The Taskforce was chaired by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr. Pat Rabbitte T.D., supported by Minister of State, Mr. Fergus O’Dowd T.D., with the the CEOs of the six main electronic communications network operators: BT, Eircom/Meteor, Hutchison 3G Ireland (3), Telefonica O2, UPC & Vodafone. The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), the Telecommunications and Internet Federation (TIF) and Forfás were observers. Executive Summary and Full Report