First premises now available for pre-order in rural areas surrounding Athy with National Broadband Ireland works in the area set to be completed this summer

Almost 3,400 homes, businesses and farms in County Kildare can avail of a high-speed connection today

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 the first 800 properties in rural areas near Athy can now pre-order a high-speed fibre broadband connection.

16,000 premises in County Kildare 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 Kildare will receive €53m of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan. 

The first 825 homes, businesses and farms in rural areas surrounding Athy are now able to place a pre-order for a high-speed connection on the National Broadband Ireland network. These are all included as part of the 1,507 Kildare premises in NBI’s Ballylinan Deployment Area and build works in this area are set to be completed this summer.

Works have already been completed in other parts of Kildare and there are a total of 3,375 premises that are available to pre-order or order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect.

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: “We are delighted to announce that Kildare premises in rural areas near Athy can now pre-order high-speed broadband services through the National Broadband Ireland network. This will enable users to experience the life-changing benefits that high-speed broadband provides.”

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 National Broadband Ireland 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 National Broadband Ireland network, visit NBI.ie/buy.

National Broadband Ireland contractors have been on the ground across the country and over 166,626 premises nationwide can order or pre-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 Kildare include Lullymore Heritage Park, Cookstown Further Education, Training and Community Centre, and Bigstone Community Hall. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.