Broadband
179. Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the way in which his Department intends insuring that the development of new metropolitan area networks will avail of existing fibre in the ground. [2190/06]
Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources (Mr. N. Dempsey): The metropolitan area networks, MANs, consist of fibre optic cables in ducts and sub-ducts extending outwards in rings from co-location centres where the telecommunications operators locate their equipment to deliver high-speed broadband services over the networks to their customers. In accordance with a framework agreement between my Department and the supplier of the fibre optic cable, the fibre is manufactured to the highest technical specifications and is provided direct to the construction contractors employed by the local and regional authorities on a fixed price basis. The MANs are interoperating with other telecommunications infrastructures, including existing fibre networks.