High-speed connectivity on the way as almost 1,400 Leitrim homes, farms and businesses near Rooskey see build works underway

 Over 6,500 homes, businesses and farms in Leitrim can avail of a high-speed connection today

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the new future-proofed, high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) today announced that construction is underway to deliver high-speed broadband to almost 1,400 homes, farms and businesses in the Rooskey deployment area in Co Leitrim. These build works include the rural communities of Drumod, Mohill and Rooskey along the Leitrim-Roscommon-Longford county border. 

12,000 premises in Co Leitrim 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 Leitrim will receive €46M of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan.

Having successfully completed the survey and design phase of the project, 1,351 Leitrim premises in the Rooskey deployment area are under construction to have high-speed fibre network, due to be connected by spring next year. 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.

Works have already been completed in other parts of Leitrim and there is a total of 6,520 premises that can now order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 1,371 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.

NBI has now passed over 300,000 homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland to high-speed broadband with over 100,000 now connected. 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 are working on the ground all over the country and considerable progress has been made on the developments in Leitrim. High-speed fibre broadband is now available to order for over 6,500 premises including over 900 premises near Carrick-on-Shannon, over 2,200 near Keshcarrigan and almost 2,600 near Manorhamilton.

“We are working hard on the ground to progress other areas of the county through engineering survey and design phases. We are encouraging Leitrim residents to visit the NBI website to check their Eircode and sign up for updates.

“Our overarching goal is to improve digital connectivity across the country. With minimum internet speed of 500 megabites per second, this new Fibre-to-the-Home network will play a pivotal role in sustaining local businesses and communities.”

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/buy.

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 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 Leitrim include Aughavas GAA Centre, Leitrim Gaels Community Facility and Killargue Hub. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are now connected for educational access as part of the NBP.