High-speed connectivity on the way as almost 4,800 Donegal homes, farms and businesses near Bunbeg and Tamney see build works commence

Almost 6,000 homes, businesses and farms in Donegal 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 4,800 homes, farms and businesses in Co Donegal. This includes nearly 3,000 premises in the Bunbeg deployment area and over 1,800 premises in the Tamney deployment area. These build works include the rural communities of Annagry and Derrybeg near Bunbeg as well as Rathmullen and Carrowkeel near Tamney. The anticipated date of connection for these premises is between October and December this year.

In Donegal, there are approximately 33,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. Under the National Broadband Plan, Co Donegal will see an investment of €128M 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, 4,778 Donegal premises in the Bunbeg and Tamney deployment areas are now under construction to have high-speed fibre, which includes 2,958 premises around Bunbeg and 1,820 premises around Tamney. 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 Donegal and there are 5,989 premises that can now order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 1,827 premises 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.

TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland Deployment said: “Our teams are working on the ground all over the country and considerable progress has been made on the developments in Donegal. High-speed fibre broadband is now available to order for almost 2,800 homes, businesses and farms near Creeslough along with over 3,200 premises near Letterkenny. As the fast pace of the rollout continues, we are confident in our ability to progress premises from the construction phase to the order phase. We are pleased to be commencing construction on a further 4,800 homes around Bunbeg and Tamney, and we expect residents to be able to order a connection before the end of the year. Meanwhile, construction works are also underway for 2,900 premises in the St Johnstown deployment area and almost 1,600 premises near Fintown, while other areas of the county are progressing through engineering survey and design phases.

“Our overarching goal is to improve digital connectivity across the country. With minimum internet speed of 500Mbps, 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. 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 Donegal include Glenveagh National Park, Malin Head and Fort Dunree. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.