Rollout now over a third of the way complete in county with almost 5,750 homes and businesses ready to connect

Local teacher becomes the first connection in the Emyvale area

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 1,200 premises in the Emyvale Deployment Area have been successfully connected. Overall, there are almost 5,750 premises that can order or pre-order a high-speed connection in County Monaghan.

Up to 16,000 premises in County Monaghan 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 €60 million of Government investment under the NBP. 

Over a third of all premises in the Monaghan intervention area are now able to connect to high-speed fibre on the National Broadband Ireland network.

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer of National Broadband Ireland, said: “National Broadband Ireland is delighted to announce that almost 5,750 premises in the Monaghan deployment area are ready to either order or preorder high-speed broadband on our network.

“We are calling on residents in the Monaghan deployment area to visit nbi.ie to check their Eircode to see if they can get connected and register for updates. It is our goal to give homes and businesses throughout Ireland the opportunity to experience the life-changing benefits that high-speed broadband provides. We understand the role that high-speed broadband now plays in everyday lives and want to give the people of Ireland every opportunity to avail of it.

“In today’s work environment, more and more people have turned to working remotely.  That is why, for families like the McAree family, having a high-speed connection at home is vital for both professional and personal use.”

Dermot McAree, one of the first customers in the Emyvale Deployment Area to be connected to the NBI network said: “In our house, we have become more and more reliant on broadband and it has become a huge part of our lives. As a teacher, I sometimes take my work home with me. I may be preparing lesson plans, marking exams or even teaching online. We are always online and use the evenings to relax by streaming our favourite TV programmes or football matches. We were delighted when NBI Gigabit fibre became available to us through our local provider, Net1.

“Getting connected to the NBI Gigabit fibre has completely transformed our lives. I no longer worry about the strength of the connection and whether it is strong enough to carry out my school tasks and stream a programme at the same time. The connection is strong, reliable and super-fast. Just what we need. It is great to see such big improvements in such a short space of time. Thank you NBI and thank you Net1.”

Aidan McCreesh, Technical Support Manager at Net1 – the Retail Service Provider selling services on the new fibre network in the area – commented: “Net1 customers, like the McAree family put faith in us as a broadband partner to deliver high speed broadband to their homes. It is great to see fibre broadband being made available in rural parts of the country that might have had poor connections previously. We have witnessed first-hand the difference a fast broadband connection can make of customers everyday lives. We take great pleasure in providing excellent customer service, and we can’t wait for the businesses and homes we look after to benefit from NBI’s lightning-fast broadband and all the possibilities it opens up. We are delighted to partner with NBI on this project and as the National Broadband Plan will be bringing more connections to the county, we look forward to collaborating with them again on further projects.”

John McArdle, Broadband Officer at Monaghan County Council said: “Monaghan County Council welcomes NBI’s delivery of fibre infrastructure in the intervention areas of County Monaghan. We are excited to see more homes, farms and businesses in the county now benefit from a connection to high-speed broadband through the National Broadband Plan. We are delighted to see opportunities being created in the local areas as a result of these connections.”

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 62 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the NBI network and 51 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 NBI™ network, visit NBI.ie/buy   

NBI contractors have been on the ground since January 2020 surveying townlands across the county. This involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area, and enables design solutions for the provision of the fibre network.  

Under the National Broadband Plan, 569,000 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.   

Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) 

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 Monaghan include the Tullycorbet Community Centre, Carn Resource Centre, and Tannagh Outdoor Education Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP. 

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. 

Photo caption: Pictured Aidan McCreesh, Technical Support Manager at Net1, Dermot McAree, one of the first customers in the Emyvale Deployment Area to be connected to the NBI network, Niamh Hogg, Marketing Manager at National Broadband Ireland and John McCardle, Broadband Officer at Monaghan County Council. Photo credit: Rory Geary.