National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the new future-proofed, high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the National Broadband Plan on behalf of the Government, has announced that the first premises have been successfully connected in County Cavan.
In total, 16,242 premises in the county 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, County Cavan will receive €65m of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan.
NBI currently has construction underway to bring fibre connections to 3,738 premises in Cavan, which is the final phase of delivering the network before connections are possible. These premises will gradually become available for connection over the coming months and are all expected to be able to place orders by the end of April.
Residents and businesses will be able to order their connections with a number of Retail Service Providers who will offer services over the network. As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new Fibre-to-the-Home network available to all Retail Service Providers (RSPs) operating in the Intervention Area. Some 33 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the NBI network and 17 are certified as ready to start providing connections as of today.
This is expected to bring significant benefits directly to consumers and businesses in Cavan, where competition between RSPs will ensure quality bundled packages offer choice around voice, broadband, TV and mobile at competitive prices. To find out more about the RSPs signed up to offer services over the new network visit: www.nbi.ie/where-can-i-buy/.
David McCourt, Chairman of National Broadband Ireland, commented:
“We are delighted to be able to say that we have now commenced our first connections in County Cavan, which will enable users to experience the life-changing benefits that high-speed broadband provides.
“While working in accordance with the Government’s Covid-19 guidelines to keep our teams and the public safe, we are doing everything in our power to ensure we can connect more premises across the county and nationwide as quickly as possible.”
NBI contractors have been on the ground since January 2020 surveying townlands across the county. This involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area, and enables design solutions for the provision of the fibre network.
Under the National Broadband Plan, 544,000 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.
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.
