Rural areas losing out in digital divide
New jobs being rolled out by online retail giant Amazon and Apple for customer support agents to work from home preclude those who have broadband speeds of anything less than 5 megabits per second (Mbps) download speeds and 1Mbps upload speeds.
The situation means that many people living in rural areas cannot apply for certain jobs and experts predict that is likely to cause a big urban/rural divide over the next few years.
Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte, said that despite pressure on Government finances, funds would be invested so as to make sure more thinly populated areas are not left behind in the digital age.
He said he was aware from the IDA Ireland that international investment opportunities were being lost in parts of the country because of insufficient broadband coverage.
He said the Government was committed to providing broadband speeds of at least 30Mbps to every citizen in the State by 2015.
“I want everyone in Ireland to have access to at least 30Mbps download speeds, no matter how rural their home or business,” said Mr Rabbitte.
The minister said he was also setting a higher target of at least 40Mbps for many areas outside the cities.
He hoped that more than half the population would have between 70Mbps and 100Mbps by 2015.
Under the new National Broadband Plan, launched by Mr Rabbitte yesterday, any State intervention will involve co-funding with the private sector.
It is estimated the total cost of the commitments given will be €350m, with a cost to the State put at €175m.
Mr Rabbitte described the broadcast plan as the “rural electrification of the 21st century”.
The source of funding of the State investment may include proceeds from the sale of State assets, the National Pensions Reserve Fund and Strategic Investment Funds.
Mr Rabbitte said the plan followed detailed consultations with leading telecommunications companies and included other measures involving ongoing investment in the sector, the removal of barriers, demand stimulation and the use of State buildings to facilitate the roll-out of the technology.
He said the plan had to be ambitious because of the tremendous opportunity for the country in attracting investment to parts of the country where there was an absence of quality broadband.
Mr Rabbitte said a national mapping exercise would be undertaken as a first step to determine the exact position in relation to existing and planned broadband services throughout the country.
Broadband lobby group, Ireland Offline, said the plan was nothing more than a “plan about a plan”. Ireland Offline chairman Eamon Wallace said the mapping exercise would take time and there was no indication of how the €350m investment would be spent.
