€107m investment to serve 28,000 Kerry homes, farms and businesses

Almost 14,000 premises in the county can order a high-speed connection today

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, is visiting Co Kerry this week with the company’s Chief Executive Officer, TJ Malone, delivering an update to a meeting of the County Council on Monday. 

28,000 premises in Co Kerry 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, Co Kerry will receive €107 million of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan.

TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland Deployment, said: “I am delighted to have an opportunity to provide an update to Kerry County Council. I want to thank the Council for working very constructively with NBI as we are in regular contact on our construction works.

“We are rolling out the National Broadband Plan high speed fibre network with minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second to over 28,000 premises in Kerry. The benefits of the speed and reliability of NBI fibre are huge. Co Kerry residents who connect will be able to work, study and play online all at the same time without interruption. For farms and businesses, high-speed broadband unlocks opportunities to expand and innovate. 

“We are making significant progress in Kerry. Almost half of the 28,000 premises we will ultimately serve can already order a connection today. The 13,512 premises where the network is now available for order are in towns and townlands in NBI deployment areas all over the county, including:

  • Over 1,800 in Dingle
  • Over 1,500 in Ballyheigue
  • Over 3,000 in Killarney
  • Over 2,000 in Kilgarvan
  • Over 3,000 in Tralee
  • Almost 900 in Castlegregory
  • Almost 700 in Rathmore

“Over 3,300 premises have already connected which is below the average take-up rate nationally, so we are strongly encouraging Kerry residents to visit nbi.ie/eoi and enter their Eircode to check their status. 

“We are also letting people know that build works are under way for the residents of Black Valley, for more than 4,000 premises in Listowel and over 1,000 premises in Sneem. We expect all of these premises to be able able to connect by the end of this year. We are working hard on the rest of the rollout in Kerry with engineering surveys largely complete in the county and all premises will have moved into the design and build phase by the end of 2024. We will continue to provide regular progress updates and we are confident the rollout is on schedule and on budget and the network will be live for all premises by the end of 2026.”

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 66 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the National Broadband Ireland network and 59 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 227,789 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. 955 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 Kerry include Lady of the Valley Church, Black Valley, Valentia Transatlantic Cable Station and the Kells Railway Station Community Space. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.

Photo caption: TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, NBI Deployment