€59m investment to serve 15,000 Sligo homes, farms and businesses
Over 6,000 premises in the county can order a high-speed connection today
75% of premises in the county anticipated to available to order by end of 2025
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 it currently has over 6,000 premises in Sligo that can order high-speed fibre broadband, with over 1,800 Sligo premises already connected. As of now, almost all premises in Sligo have progressed through at least phase one of the rollout, with the National Broadband Plan on schedule and on budget.
15,000 premises in Co Sligo 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 Sligo will receive €59 million of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan.
Progress continues across the county with network build works now underway for over 4,700 premises. This includes almost 1,900 premises near the Gurteen deployment area and nearly 2,700 near the Dromore West deployment area, which are currently under construction in Sligo. National Broadband Ireland’s website is regularly updated to show estimated connection dates. Signing up to the NBI email notifications at nbi.ie/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.
TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland Deployment, said: “Our teams continue to work on the rollout plan and good progress has been made on surveying, design, and build works in Co Sligo. We’re confident that the rollout will continue to gather pace as we look to connect thousands more homes and businesses. We know that people want access to high-speed broadband and our goal is to deliver that as quickly as possible.
“The rollout of Broadband Connection Points is also key to delivering access to high-speed internet in the Intervention Area, and we’re delighted sites are being connected right across Sligo in places like Coolaney Community Centre, Eastern Harps GAA Club and Killavil Community Centre.
“There are over 6,500 homes, businesses and farms ready to connect in rural areas across Co Sligo, including over 2,300 surrounding Sligo town, almost 2,500 near Tubbercurry and over 1,300 near Castlegarren. We would encourage people living in those areas to visit nbi.ie to see if they can place an order a high-speed connection on the NBI™ network.”
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 72 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the NBI™ network and 68 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 NBI™ network, visit nbi.ie/where-can-i-buy/.
National Broadband Ireland contractors have been on the ground across the country and over 311,575 premises nationwide can order or pre-order broadband on the NBI™ network so far.
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 Sligo include Coolaney Community Centre, Eastern Harps GAA Club and Killavil Community Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.
