292 Deputy Liz McManus asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide the percentage of households who have broadband in Donegal south west; the areas of County Donegal that are part of the national broadband scheme; the areas of County Donegal that are to come under the rural broadband scheme; if his attention has been drawn to the fact of the average speed of broadband in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43745/10]

The provision of telecommunications services, including broadband services, is a matter for private sector service providers operating in a liberalised market regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). Broadband services are provided by private service providers over various platforms including DSL (i.e. over telephone lines), fixed wireless, mobile, cable, fibre and satellite. ComReg's website www.callcosts.ie provides detailed information on the various private sector telecommunications products and services available on a county by county basis, including County Donegal.

While my Department does not hold information on broadband penetration and speeds by region, ComReg publishes quarterly statistical reports on national developments in the fixed-line, mobile and broadband communications markets.

These reports demonstrate the significant progress in broadband roll-out over recent years. At the end of June 2010 Ireland had in the region of 1.48 million broadband subscriptions and narrowband connections had reduced to less than 5% of all Internet connections. 85.8% of SMEs are now using broadband speeds between 2mbps and 10mbp and of the homes with broadband access, 77.8% of them are also using broadband speeds between 2mbps and 10mbps. The year-on-year growth in subscriptions over the preceding 12-month period from June 2009 was over 16.5%.

A list of the 52 Electoral Divisions (EDs) covered by the National Broadband Scheme (NBS) in County Donegal is provided below. The provision of broadband services under the NBS advanced incrementally over a 22 month period and services are now available throughout the entire NBS area. My Department and its external consultants actively monitor coverage within the NBS areas. In summary, broadband services in the NBS EDs in County Donegal are available to 98.55% of premises by means of mobile wireless broadband coverage, with coverage to the balance of 1.45% of premises being provided by way of satellite.

It continues to be a priority of the Government that there will be broadband coverage across the entire country. However, despite Government and private investment in broadband, I am aware that there continues to be a small percentage of premises throughout the country that will not be capable of receiving broadband services. This is primarily due to technical and other reasons (suitability of a telephone line, distance from an enabled exchange, no line of sight etc.).

The European Commission has set aside a portion of the European Economic Recovery Programme (EERP) funding for rural broadband initiatives. Using this funding, which will be augmented by an Exchequer contribution, I intend to formally launch a Rural Broadband Scheme before the end of this year. This scheme will aim to provide a basic broadband service to individual un-served rural premises outside of the NBS areas.

There will be a competitive process to engage a service provider who will offer a broadband service to qualified applicants under the scheme. While the exact details have yet to be finalised, I expect that the service offered under this scheme would at least match the service offered under the NBS. This process will be technology neutral — it will be a matter for the bidders to decide which technical approach they propose in their bids.

Information in relation to acceptance of applications and the process of qualification under the scheme will be made available in due course when the scheme is launched.