High speed connectivity on the way as almost 1,500 Limerick homes, farms and businesses in rural areas near Newport see engineering survey works begin

Almost 7,000 homes, businesses and farms in Limerick can avail of a high-speed connection today

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 engineering survey works for almost 1,500 premises in the rural surrounds of the Newport deployment area are now underway. This area includes the rural communities of Castleconnell, Cappamore and Moroe.

In Limerick, there are approximately 22,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses, and schools. Under the National Broadband Plan, Limerick will see an investment of €84M 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.

NBI crews have made substantial progress in Limerick, where 1,460 premises in the Newport deployment area have recently begun surveying work. These initial works pave the way for the next stage of deploying fibre on poles/ducts and includes the erection of poles, unblocking of ducts, and the insertion of sub duct into existing ducts, for the fibre to be installed.

These vital survey works enable “Fibre -to-the-Home” network designs to be completed for each of the 559,000 plus premises in the Intervention Area, as identified by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. 

There are 6,978 homes, businesses, and farms in County Limerick that can order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband with 2,204 connections made to the NBI network so far. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people living in Limerick to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect.

National Broadband Ireland contractors have been on the ground across the country and over 186,678 premises nationwide are available to order broadband with 50,671 homes and businesses connected to the NBI network so far.

NBI Chief Executive Peter Hendrick said: “Momentum has been steadily building in the progression of the National Broadband Plan rollout, with homes across the country being connected to high-speed broadband. Our teams continue to work on the rollout plan and steady progress has been made from surveying, design, build to connection works in County Limerick.” 

“The rollout of Broadband Connection Points is also key to delivering access to high-speed internet in the Intervention Area, and we’re delighted sites are being connected right across Limerick in places like Patrickswell GAA Club, The Pavillion and Askeaton Community Centre.”

“There are almost 7,000 Limerick premises ready to connect in rural areas, including surrounding areas of Limerick City, Adare, Patrickswell, Ballysimon and Caherconlish. We would encourage people living in those areas to visit nbi.ie to see if they can place an order a high-speed connection on the NBI network.”

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 /bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Limerick include Patrickswell GAA Club, The Pavillion and Askeaton Community Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.