High-speed connectivity on the way as 800 Laois homes, farms and businesses near Abbeyleix, Durrow, Ballinakill and Aghmacart see build works begin

Over 5,000 homes, businesses and farms in Laois can avail of a high-speed connection today

28 April 2023: 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 almost 800 Laois premises included in the Castlecomer deployment area, which covers towns and townlands in South Laois such as Abbeyleix, Durrow, Ballinakill and Aghmacart.

In Laois, there are approximately 13,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. Under the National Broadband Plan, County Laois will see an investment of €49M 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. 

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland said: “Our teams are working tirelessly on the rollout plan and considerable progress has been made on the developments in Laois. 41% of the county’s Intervention Area can now connect to high-speed broadband and a further 44% is under construction, with the majority of these works set to be completed in 2023.”

He continued: “The project is now at scale and we are confident that we can continue to accelerate the rollout and move even more premises through construction and into the order phase. We are currently partnering with retail service providers, and other stakeholders, to connect homes in Laois. Minimum speeds of 500Mbps will be available.

“Our goal is to improve digital connectivity across the country. Digital connectivity has become a huge part of our everyday lives, and this new Fibre-to-the-Home network will be a key enabler for the sustainability of local businesses and communities.”   

Having successfully completed the Survey and Design phase of the project, 790 Laois premises that are included in the Castlecomer deployment area are now under construction to have high-speed fibre. When these works are completed, homes, businesses and farms in the areas will be ready to connect and order broadband from the NBI network.

Works have already been completed in other parts of Laois and there are 5,170 premises that are available to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 1,053 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.

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.  

Under the National Broadband Plan, 559,000 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 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. 602 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 Laois include Donaghmore Workhouse and Agiculture Museum and Emo Community Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.