High-speed connectivity on the way as over 1,300 Offaly homes, farms and businesses near Kilcormac see build works commence

Almost 1,700  homes, businesses and farms in Offaly 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 construction has commenced to deliver high-speed broadband to over 1,300 premises in the rural areas surrounding the Mountbolus deployment area in County Offaly. This includes the communities of Mountbolus, Kilcormac and Killoughey.

In Offaly, there are approximately 13,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. Under the National Broadband Plan, County Offaly will see an investment of €48M 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.

Having successfully completed the Survey and Design phase of the project, 1,338 Offaly premises in the Mount Bolus deployment area are now under construction to have high-speed fibre. 

National Broadband Ireland’s 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.

Works have already been completed in other parts of Offaly and there are 1,678 premises that are available to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 463 already connected to the network. 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: “Our teams are working tirelessly on the rollout plan and considerable progress has been made on the developments in Offaly. High-speed fibre broadband is now available to order for over 1,300 homes, businesses and farms near Ballaghmore, while construction works are underway for over 1,100 premises in the Moate deployment area near Clara.

He continued: “As the fast pace of the rollout continues, we are confident in our expertise to progress premises from the construction phase to the order phase. In collaboration with retail service providers and other key stakeholders, we’re actively connecting homes in Offaly, and our commitment is to provide a minimum internet speed of 500Mbps. As part of this we are committed to providing reliable broadband all the time all over the home.

Our overarching goal is to improve digital connectivity across the country. In today’s world, digital connectivity is integral to our daily lives, and this new Fibre-to-the-Home network will play a pivotal role in sustaining local businesses and communities.”

Under the National Broadband Plan, 564,000 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. 

Keep up to Speed!  

NBI is encouraging people to check their eligibility and register for updates at 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 nbi.ie/bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Offaly include Rosfaraghan Business Park, Shannon Harbour and Coolderry Community Hall. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.