Almost 2,400 homes, businesses and farms near Ballyheigue and Castlegregory will soon be ready to connect to fibre broadband on National Broadband Ireland network 

High-speed connectivity on the way as over 1,800 premises in the Ballydavid deployment area see build works begin 

Almost 8,900 homes, businesses and farms in Kerry can avail of a high-speed connection today

10 March 2023: 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 almost 2,400 premises in the Ballyheigue and Castlegregory deployment areas can now order or pre-order a high-speed fibre broadband connection on its network. Additionally, construction has commenced to deliver high-speed broadband to over 1,800 premises in the Ballydavid deployment area.

In Kerry, there are approximately 28,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. Under the National Broadband Plan, County Kerry will see an investment of €107M 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. 

There are 1,502 premises in the Ballyheigue deployment area and a further 853 premises in the Castlegregory deployment area that can now join the National Broadband Ireland network. Additionally, there are 1,831 premises in the Ballydavid deployment area that are now under construction to have high-speed fibre after having successfully completed the Survey and Design phase of the project.

Works have already been completed in other parts of Kerry and there are 8,853 premises that are available to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 1,760 connections made to the network so far. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect.

National Broadband Ireland’s website is regularly updated to show estimated connection dates. Signing up to the NBI email notifications at /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, National Broadband Ireland said: “Our teams continue to work on the rollout plan and substantial progress has been made on works in Kerry.”

He continued: “We are confident that the rollout will continue to gather pace as our ability to move premises from the construction phase to the order phase ramps up.  We are currently working closely with retail service providers, and other stakeholders, to connect homes in Kerry. Minimum speeds of 500Mbps will be available.

“Our mission is to end the digital divide across the country. Digital connectivity is critical to many of our activities, and this new Fibre-to-the-Home network, will be a key enabler for the sustainability of local businesses and communities.”   

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 providing access to high-speed broadband or do not intend to. 

Keep up to Speed!  

NBI is encouraging people to check their eligibility and register for updates at www.nbi.ie to receive regular notifications related to their own premises as works progresses in their area.  

Broadband Connection Points

In advance of the Fibre-to-the-Home rollout, the NBP provides for the delivery of Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) nationwide. 574 of these sites, including Public BCPs, are now ‘live’. Public BCPs – which include sports clubs, community centres and tourist sites – will provide free public access to high-speed internet in the rollout area. Other BCP categories include schools and marts.

BCPs will pave the way for rural communities to receive the benefits of broadband, from mobile working, e-learning and mobile banking, to digital tourism. You can view BCPs at /bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Kerry include Kilmoyley Community Centre, the Black Valley (Lady of the Valley Church) and Valentia Transatlantic Cable Station. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.