Almost 5,300 premises in the county can order a high-speed connection today

€33m investment to serve 9,000 Louth homes, farms and businesses

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 over 60% of all premises in Co Louth that can order or pre-order high-speed fibre broadband, with over 2,300 Louth premises already connected. As of now, engineering survey works have been completed in all premises across Co Louth, with the National Broadband Plan on schedule and on budget.

There are 9,000 premises in Co Louth which 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 Louth will receive €33 million of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan.

Progress continues across the county as the initial survey works have been completed for 1,600 premises near Ardee and almost 1,600 near Togher. 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.

NBI has now passed over 300,000 homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland to high-speed broadband. The average take-up rate of 33% is well ahead of projections and international comparisons and surpasses 50% in areas of the country where the network has been live for 18 months.

TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland Deployment, said: “Our teams continue to work on the rollout plan and excellent progress has been made on design, and build works in Co Louth. 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 Louth in places like Stephenstown Pond Nature Park, Killanny GAA Club and Teach Raithneach Heritage and Community Centre. 

“There are over 5,300 homes, businesses and farms ready to connect in rural areas across Co Louth, including almost 1,600 near Drogheda and almost 2,700 near Dundalk. 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/.   

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 Louth include Stephenstown Pond Nature Park, Killanny GAA Club and Teach Raithneach Heritage and Community Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.