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National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the new future-proofed, high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the National Broadband Plan on behalf of the Government, today announced that the first premises have been successfully connected in Cork and Cavan, with connections in Limeric
NBI’s team has scaled operations to work across all 26 counties and currently has construction, the final phase of delivering the network, underway for 19,237 premises in townlands across Cork, Cavan, Galway and Limerick. The initial premises across these counties will be able to start placing orders through their chosen Retail Service Provider from the 25th January, with approximately 20% of premises being businesses and farms, who will also have access speeds of 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) from day one. NBI expects the number of premises under construction to be in excess of 130,000 by the end of the year, with approximately 70,000 premises available for connection at prices similar to those available in urban areas.
Residents and businesses will be able to place orders with a number of Retail Service Providers who will offer services over the network. As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new Fibre-to-the-Home network available to all Retail Service Providers (RSPs) operating in the Intervention Area. Some 33 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the NBI network and 17 are certified as ready to start providing connections to the first premises once they become available and customer orders are made. This is expected to bring significant benefits directly to consumers and businesses where competition between RSPs will ensure quality bundled packages offer choice around voice, broadband, TV and mobile at competitive prices. To find out more about the RSPs signed up to offer services over the new network visit: http://www.nbi.ie/where-can-i-buy/.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “The first rollout of the National Broadband Plan to these homes and businesses in Carrigaline is a significant milestone. Access to a new high-speed fibre network will be transformative for communities and businesses across Ireland, especially in light of the pandemic and an increasing reliance on remote working and learning. The National Broadband Plan creates opportunity in every part of the country, giving people a better work life balance, and opening up digital technologies to homes, schools, and all sectors of the economy.”
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD welcomed the news that the first homes and businesses are benefitting from minimum speeds of 500 Megabits per second (Mbps), with quality and reliability not previously available.
“The National Broadband Plan is one of the most important and ambitious infrastructure projects ever undertaken by the State," said Ryan. "The growth in remote working and learning during the pandemic has highlighted how critical access to reliable, high-speed connectivity is to our lives. Today marks a major milestone in the rollout of the National Broadband Plan as we see the first connections and I’m delighted that homes and businesses will soon be able to start placing orders to receive access to world leading connectivity. As a transformational project, the National Broadband Plan will connect over 1.1 million people across some 544,000 homes, business, farms and schools where commercial operators do not currently provide high-speed connectivity.”
The O’Connors from Carrigaline, County Cork, are the first family to be connected and are now benefitting from the new high-speed network.
“This new connection to high-speed fibre broadband under the National Broadband Plan is going to bring incredible benefits to our family," said Brian O’Connor. "Our youngest son starts school next year and will need a reliable internet connection to convert his schoolwork to braille. I also work away from home frequently, so having the ability to speak and see each other remotely is going to mean the world to us, as well as helping us have more regular contact with other family members. These are things that many people in other areas might take for granted.”
David McCourt, Chairman of National Broadband Ireland, commented:
“We started with boots on the ground in January 2020 and teams have scaled and mobilised to be in 26 counties across the country, working incredibly hard to rollout the National Broadband Network as quickly and effectively as possible, despite the extremely challenging environment caused by Covid-19. Today’s announcement is an extremely proud day for NBI as we see the first homes experience the life-changing benefits that high-speed broadband provides. Our teams nationwide have conducted over 158,000 surveys and 120,000 designs of individual premises which are the critical first steps in this ambitious rollout. While working in accordance with the Government’s Covid-19 guidelines to keep our teams and the public safe, we are doing everything in our power to ensure we can connect premises as quickly as possible.”
NBI is encouraging people to check their eligibility and register for updates at http://www.nbi.ie to receive regular notifications related to their own premises as works progresses in their area.
How is the National Broadband Plan set to reshape connectivity throughout Ireland? Find out from the experts at this year’s virtual Connected Ireland event, taking place on February 11th
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