Surveying for National Broadband Plan expands in Donegal

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company rolling out the new high speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) today announced that surveying works in several areas of Donegal are well underway. 

Surveying 

The rollout of the National Broadband Plan continues to ramp up as homes and communities begin to be connected in Intervention Areas across the country. NBI contractors have been on the ground across the country for more than twenty months and over 280,000 premises nationwide have been surveyed to date. This involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area. These vital survey works enable “Fibre-to-the-Home” network designs to be completed for each of the over 550,000 plus premises in the Intervention Area, as identified by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication (DECC). 

Donegal 

In Donegal, there are over 32,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. This equates to approximately a third of all premises in the county. Under the National Broadband Plan, Donegal will see an investment of €128M in the new high speed fibre network. This will enable e-learning, remote monitoring of livestock or equipment, e-health initiatives, better energy efficiency in the home, and facilitate increased levels of remote working. 

NBI crews have made substantial progress in Donegal, where the following areas have been surveyed in the wider Letterkenny Deployment Area:  Coolboy, Kilmacrenan, Coachmill, Drumbollogue, Termon, Lossett, Ramelton, and Creeslough.

These initial works pave the way for the next stage of deploying fibre on poles/ducts and includes the erection of poles, unblocking of ducts, and the insertion of sub duct into existing ducts, for the fibre to be installed.  

All NBI contractors will also carry official ID cards and essential worker letters, and have received training on adhering to all Covid 19 guidelines. They will have vehicles, PPE, and signage with both their own, and NBI logos. 

Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) 

In advance of the fibre to the home roll out, the NBP provides for the delivery of BCPs nationwide. 386 of these sites are now ‘live’ and have both internal and external broadband access. These facilities – which include GAA clubs, community centres and tourist sites – will provide free public access to high-speed internet in the rollout area. 

These will pave the way for rural communities to receive the benefits of broadband, from mobile working, e-learning and mobile banking, to digital tourism. A full list can be found at /bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in county Donegal that are connected are Ray Community Centre /Ionad Pobail na Ráithe, Cranford Coole Community Centre, Leghowney Community Centre, and Leghowney Community Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP. 

Progress on the ground 

NBI Chief Executive Peter Hendrick said: “Momentum has been steadily building in the progression of the National Broadband Plan rollout, with homes across the country being connected to high-speed broadband. Our teams have been, and continue to do so, work on the rollout plan and substantial progress has been made from surveying, design, build to connection works.  The progress we are making around the Letterkenny area is extremely important to the wider deployment programme for communities across Donegal.”  

“As an increasing number of homes and businesses are being connected, we are confident that the rollout will continue to gather pace as we look to connect thousands more homes and businesses. We are acutely aware that people want access to high-speed broadband and our goal is to deliver that as quickly as possible.” 

“Survey and designs are an important part of mapping out how every home, farm and business will be connected, and they provide the blueprint for how the NBI fibre is laid. The BCPs are also a key milestone in delivering access to high-speed internet in the Intervention Area, and we’re delighted to see these being connected for access – internally and externally – right across the county.” 

NBI’s website www.nbi.ie has a search tool to enable the public to check whether their premises is within the rollout area, and to show indicative dates for areas being surveyed. NBI’s contact centre can be reached at 0818 624 624 (lo-call) or contactus@nbi.ie.