Works to connect Laois homes, businesses and farms along Kilkenny border almost complete

National Broadband Ireland, the company delivering the new future-proofed, high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the National Broadband Plan on behalf of the Government, has said that a further 700 Laois properties in its Johnstown deployment area will be able to connect to its high-speed fibre broadband network shortly.

Almost 13,000 premises in County Laois 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, County Laois will receive €49m of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan. 

The National Broadband Ireland rollout in the Johnstown deployment area of Laois is in its final stages where almost 900 homes, businesses and farms in the area will be able to avail of a high-speed fibre connection, with 700 coming on stream in the coming weeks, and the remaining 200 over the summer. 

Works have already been completed in other parts of Laois and there is over 5,000 premises, of 40% of the project, able to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 773 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.   A further 37% of the new fibre network in the county is already in construction. 

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: “Good progress has been made in Laois to deliver our high-speed broadband network to local homes, businesses and farms. Two fifths of the county are now able to connect to the NBI network with construction set to be complete in further areas of Laois later this year.

“On the National Broadband Ireland website, people in the area can check their eligibility to connect to the network. A connection to our high-speed fibre broadband creates limitless opportunities for users.” 

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. 

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.   

Some 61 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the National Broadband Ireland network and 48 are certified as ready to start providing connections as of today. To see the retail broadband providers that are currently licensed to sell on the National Broadband Ireland network, visit NBI.ie/buy.

National Broadband Ireland contractors have been on the ground across the country and over 126,806 premises nationwide are available to order broadband on the NBI network so far.

The National Broadband Ireland 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.  

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. 602 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 www.nbi.ie/bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Laois include Donaghmore Workhouse and Agriculture Museum and Emo Community Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.