High-speed connectivity on the way as almost 1,000 Westmeath homes, farms and businesses near Ballymore see build works commence

Almost 5,900 homes, businesses and farms in Westmeath 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 almost 1,000 premises in the rural areas surrounding the Ballymahon deployment area in County Westmeath. This includes the areas surrounding Ballymore, Ardnagrath and Tang.

In Westmeath, there are approximately 12,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. Under the National Broadband Plan, County Westmeath will see an investment of €46M 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, 978 Westmeath premises in the Ballymahon 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 Westmeath and there are 5,862 premises that are available to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 2,203 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 Westmeath.  High-speed fibre broadband is now available to order for over 3,200 premises in Mullingar, almost 1,100 premises in Athlone and almost 1,700 in Delvin. Construction works are underway in the Lismacaffrey and Moate deployment areas, bringing fibre broadband to almost 1,100 and almost 1,600 premises, respectively.

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 Westmeath, 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 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 Westmeath include Bunbrosna GAA Club, Milltown Emper Community Centre, and Clonkill Hurling Club. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.