First 800 homes, businesses and farms near Hospital can now connect to fibre broadband on National Broadband Ireland network

Over 2,700 premises due to be connected in area before the end of the year

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 Limerick properties in its Hospital deployment area can now pre-order a high-speed fibre broadband connection. The area covers the rural surrounds of Hospital and includes areas such as Kilfinane, Bruff and Knocklong.

22,000 premises in County Limerick 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 Limerick will receive €84M of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan.

There are 2,773 Limerick premises in the Hospital deployment area of which 881 properties can join the National Broadband Ireland network. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people living near Hospital to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect. Works are set to be complete in the area before the end of the year.

Works have already been completed in other parts of Limerick and there is a total of 7,878 premises that are available to pre-order or order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county with 2,371 connections made 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.

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: “We are delighted to announce that Limerick premises near Hospital can now 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. This includes over 4,500 premises in Adare, and almost 2,200 surrounding Limerick City. 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.”

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 65 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the National Broadband Ireland network and 57 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 196,243 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. 952 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 Limerick includes Kildimo GAA Club, The Old School Community Centre and Shanagolden Education Resource Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.