Unlike the UK which has stalled at 10Mbps, Communications Minister Denis Naughten TD said that when National Broadband Plan rolls out in 2017 in Ireland, the next step will be a revised USO to make access to a minimum of 30Mbps broadband an “enforceable right.”
The Minister said that there are plans in place to revise the current 40-year-old universal service obligation (USO) for telephony services across Ireland from basic copper telephony to a minimum of 30Mbps broadband speeds once the National Broadband Planbegins to be rolled out.
The €275m plan – supported by EU state aid – will fund operators to compete to deliver a guaranteed minimum of 30Mbps download speeds and 6Mbps upload speeds with 99.95pc uptime. The plan covers 750,000 postal addresses and some 1.8m citizens, including 1,522 primary schools, 96,000 farms, 64,440 non-farm businesses and ultimately 38pc of the working population.
Source: Ireland to make access to high-speed broadband a legal right
