High-speed connectivity on the way as over 1,500 Donegal homes, farms and businesses near Fintown see build works commence
Almost 9,600 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 over 1,500 homes, farms and businesses in the Fintown deployment area in Co Donegal. These build works include the rural communities of Lettermacaward, Dungloe and Fintown.
In Donegal, there are approximately 34,000 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, 1,543 Donegal premises in the Fintown deployment areas are now under construction to get access to high-speed fibre broadband. These premises will be connected to the NBI™ network between October and December this year. 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 also already been completed in other parts of Donegal and there are 9,596 premises that can now order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 2,241 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.
Construction works are also underway in other parts of Donegal including over 6,200 premises on the Inishowen Peninsula and over 2,900 near St Johnston. These premises are all set to be connected to the NBI™ network next year. Other areas of the county are progressing through engineering survey and design phases.
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 9,600 premises including over 1,800 near Tamney, over 3,200 near Letterkenny, over 2,800 near Creeslough and almost 3,000 near Bunbeg.
“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 1,500 homes, businesses and farms surrounding Fintown. Local residents will be able to connect to the NBI™ network by the end of this year.
“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, over 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. 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 nbi.ie/bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Donegal include Leghowney Community Centre, Meenreagh Hostel and Glenveagh National Park. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are now connected for educational access as part of the NBP.
