State to map country for broadband blackspots

The Government is to map the country community by community to see which areas should be offered state-sponsored high-speed broadband.

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte launched the mapping exercise, which will be used to identify those areas of the country which will be served by private operators and those areas where intervention by the Government will be necessary to ensure the roll-out of high-speed broadband.

Telecom operators do not want to provide certain rural parts of the country with a broadband service, claiming that providing high-speed broadband to remote or sparsely populated regions is not commercially viable.