5,000 premises can now avail of high-speed broadband in Johnstown and Kilkenny Deployment Areas

Latest customer is a former Kilkenny All-Ireland-winning captain

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the new future-proofed, high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) on behalf of the Government, has announced that over 5,000 premises in the Kilkenny and Johnstown Deployment Areas are now ready to connect, bringing the total number of Kilkenny homes, farms and businesses which can connect to their network to over 8,000.

Up to 19,000 premises in County Kilkenny are included in the State’s Intervention Area, which will see NBI deliver minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second to homes, businesses, farms and schools. As the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification, the County will receive €72 million of Government investment under the NBP. 

National Broadband Ireland’s website is regularly updated to show estimated connection dates. Signing up to the NBI email notifications at nbi.ie/eoi/ is the easiest way to get the most up to date status of premises during the rollout and when premises will be ready for order.  

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer of National Broadband Ireland, said: “National Broadband Ireland is delighted that over 5,000 homes, farms and business in Kilkenny and Johnstown are the latest to become ready to connect to the NBI fibre network.  

“This brings the number of premises in Kilkenny which can now sign up with one of our retail partners to almost 7,000 and we are calling on residents to visit nbi.ie to check their Eircode to see if they can get connected and register for updates. We are on a mission to enable homes and business all over Ireland to experience the life-changing benefits that true high-speed broadband provides with families able to work, study and access entertainment at the same time on multiple devices. 

“For Kilkenny homes, farms and businesses, like the Ryan family, having a reliable connection for day to day activities both in the farm and at home creates endless opportunities.”

Lester Ryan, the former Kilkenny All-Ireland-winning captain, and one of the first customers in the Kilkenny Deployment Area to be connected to the NBI network said: “Broadband has become a huge part of our every day life both at home with the children and on the farm. We were delighted when we found out that fibre became available in our area. When we were connected, we noticed that there was a big difference in the speed of the fibre broadband in comparison to the connection we had previously. 

“As there are five of us in the house and three young children to entertain, this can mean that multiple devices are being played at one time so having this high-speed connection provided by Blacknight has improved our quality of life immensely!”

Chloe Murray, Marketing Manager, Blacknight,– the Retail Service Provider selling services on the new fibre network in the area – commented: “Having worked with National Broadband Ireland on multiple occasions providing broadband to homes, farms and businesses throughout Ireland, we have seen the true extent of the changes it has had on peoples lives. It has created flexibility in people’s homes and every day lives that did not exist before. 

“The partnership between National Broadband Ireland and Blacknight delivers a top quality service and combines our expertise to create the best service possible.  

Under the National Broadband Plan, 559,000 premises nationwide are included in the Intervention Area, which was established by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications to identify areas where commercial operators are not currently or do not intend to provide access to high-speed broadband.  As a wholesale network operator, NBI does not sell fibre broadband directly to end users, rather it enables services from a range of broadband providers or Retail Service Providers (RSPs). As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new Fibre-to-the-Home network available to all RSPs operating in the Intervention Area.  

Photo: Tilly Heneghan (left) and Justine Judge (right), NBI, either side of Chloe Murray and Derek Murphy, Blacknight, and their latest high speed broadband customer, Lester Ryan. Photo Dylan Vaughan