Over 3,300 Tralee homes, farms and business can connect to high speed broadband now

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company rolling out the new high-speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) is making an investment of almost €13 million to ensure access for over 3,300 rural Tralee homes, farms and businesses. The company was in town this week to meet with local B&B owner, Jerome Lordan, whose connection to the NBI network is making a big difference to his business.

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland said: “The rollout of the NBI network is showing real momentum and over half the network is now either built or under construction. The take-up of high-speed broadband on our network has been fantastic and we’re keen to continue to accelerate our rollout and bring the benefit of high-speed fibre broadband to more and more homes, businesses and farms.

“In Kerry we will connect 28,000 premises overall and 40% of those are ready to connect now, including 7,500 homes, businesses and farms in the surrounds of Ballyheigue, Tralee and along the Dingle Peninsula. Next to come will be the towns and townlands around Kilgarvan in the south of the county, with connections becoming available for those locations in the coming months. I encourage people to visit the NBI website, nbi.ie, where they can check their Eircode and sign up for updates.”

Local B&B owner, Jerome Lordan, of Brook Manor Lodge outside Tralee, who is connected to the NBI network through broadband provider, Ivertec, said: “I was delighted to be able to sign up with Ivertec to connect to the NBI network. With the fast and dependable broadband we now have, our guests couldn’t be happier. They’ve been writing online reviews giving our B&B a 10/10 rating for the broadband connection alone. People put a lot of importance into broadband when looking for a place to stay – it’s more important than ever. For a B&B like ourselves, it’s fantastic to be able to offer our guests a chance to enjoy a scenic countryside location while still having best in class connectivity.”

Kevin Kelly, Business Development Manager with Broadband Provider, Ivertec said: “Ivertec is very pleased to be one of NBI’s broadband provider partners, connecting rural areas to fibre broadband so customers like Brook Manor Lodge can benefit from minimum speeds of 500 MB per second. 

“As a local company, we pride ourselves on excellent service and reliable broadband at a reasonable price. We are ready and waiting to hear from any of the 3,300 Tralee families and businesses which can order now and, if they choose Ivertec, look forward to making connecting as easy as possible.”

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 or intending 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.   

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 will ultimately connect 1.1 million people in every county, 65,000 farms, 44,000 small businesses and 679 schools. 

Photo caption: Ivertec Business Development Manager, Kevin Kelly, broadband customers, Sandra and Jerome Lordan, and National Broadband Ireland Communications Executive, Ross Shone