National Broadband Scheme for rural areas
In case you were not aware the National Broadband Scheme was launched in recent days. The National Broadband Scheme is intended to deliver broadband services to consumers and businesses located within those parts of the country which have no form of broadband available at the moment. Irish Rural Link (IRL) while welcoming the initiative has held off on making an official response to the scheme until we perform a detailed analysis of the information emanating following the announcement. Here in Irish Rural Link we felt it would be useful to also liaise with our members and those living in rural areas for feedback.
I have attached the Press release announcing the scheme as well as a link to the department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources website that has details of a county by county breakdown of the areas eligible to avail of the scheme, for analysis. Eligibility for the scheme is being done on a DED (District Electoral Division) basis.
www.dcenr.gov.ie/Communications
(You need to scroll down the page to identify each individual county for analysis)
Accessing this page will allow you to make a detailed analysis of your own area to see whether you are eligible to avail of the scheme or not.
Irish Rural Link will be making an official response in the near future and need to be fully informed in order to make a comprehensive evaluation of the situation. I would appreciate your co-operation with this and look forward to your analysis, opinion about the scheme or any relevant feedback.
It is critical to ensure that the technology platform for the National Broadband Scheme is capable of delivering the Broadband quality and speed necessary to allow users access the new technologies and services that will be available in the coming years. We need to end the current digital divide that exists between urban and rural Ireland and ensure that we do not repeat the mistakes that caused it.