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Ministers Naughten and Humphreys at the launch of the final report pf the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce

Communications Minister Denis Naughten and Rural Affairs Minister Heather Humphreys today published the final Report of the Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce. The Report contains 40 actions aimed at accelerating the delivery of telecoms infrastructure, ahead of the rollout of the National Broadband Plan which will bring high speed broadband to all premises throughout the country.

Minister Denis Naughten said:

I am critically aware of the frustrations being felt across Ireland in terms of poor connectivity. It is exactly because of this that a top social, economic and political priority for me as Communications Minister is delivering the new National Broadband Plan in the shortest time possible. Today’s Report comes at a timely juncture. Commercial telecoms companies are continuing to invest aggressively in the build out of high speed broadband and mobile phone networks. The actions which Government has agreed will help accelerate this investment and ensure that it is spread more evenly across the country.

Minister Heather Humphreys said:

The actions contained in the Taskforce report will play a very important role in assisting the rollout of mobile services and high speed broadband, which will bring immediate benefits to homes and businesses throughout Ireland. As Minister with responsibility for the revitalisation of rural Ireland, I welcome the findings of the Taskforce report and I intend to utilise every resource available to me to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays to the rollout of this important infrastructure to rural communities.  The appointment of a broadband officer in every local authority will help to assist this process on the ground in every county nationwide.

The Report and Implementation Programme can be accessed at this link.