180,000 homes, farms and businesses are ready to connect across all 26 counties
National Broadband Ireland (NBI) has announced that it has now connected 50,000 homes, farms and businesses under the National Broadband Plan (NBP). With high speed fibre connections available to over 180,000 premises across the country, the company marked the latest milestone in the NBP rollout at a farm in rural County Cork.
Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: “With 50,000 premises now connected, the number of homes, farms and businesses connected to the NBI network has doubled in the last nine months.
“Over 180,000 premises are ready to connect by signing up with one of our 62 retail partners. We’re hearing back from connected customers that minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second are transformational, for businesses looking to expand and diversify, and for families accessing multiple devices online at the same time.
“In County Cork, one quarter of the rollout is now complete with almost 22,000 premises ready to connect. I encourage Cork residents to visit nbi.ie and check their Eircode to find out if they are one and sign up for updates.”
Minister Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement, eGovernment and Circular Economy, said: “The National Broadband plan has seen a much higher take-up rate from Irish people than we had originally forecast. Because of that, we are now ahead of our original targets for the second year.
“Families like Noreen O’Connor’s can now access high-speed internet at their farm and join 50,000 Irish households, farms and businesses who have signed up, with the service currently available to over 180,000. No matter where you live in Ireland, fibre broadband to the home will allow you to connect to the internet with fast, reliable service.”
Mick Forry, Director of TV & Broadband at Sky Ireland, said: “This is a fantastic milestone for National Broadband Ireland and one we are very proud to be part of. For Sky, our partnership with NBI is all about ensuring connectivity for rural communities and making ultrafast broadband available to areas that can really benefit from it.
“Gaining access to the NBI fibre network can transform the way users work or study from home, as well as providing greater access to entertainment. Sky Broadband delivers a highly reliable service at competitive prices, so there are packages to suit everyone.
“We are looking forward to connecting more and more people as the NBI rollout continues to gather pace.”
Local Knocknagree woman, Noreen O’Connor who is connected to the NBI network through broadband provider, Sky, said:
“I was delighted to be able to sign up with Sky to connect to the NBI network. Really and truly, it’s made our lives better. Having three teenagers at home without a decent broadband connection was a disaster, especially during the pandemic. We have so many devices in our home – a smart TV, laptops and the Playstation – that all used to buffer and crash. Since signing up to the NBI network, we can finally sit down as a family and watch TV, trusting our broadband connection.
“I really enjoy watching GAA matches with friends and family at our home. It’s something I could never do before. Now, we can watch local games together. Having high-speed broadband has made life much easier.
“In Knocknagree, I live on a small farm, but I’ve seen big improvements since connecting to the NBI network. There are several things on the farm that require a strong broadband connection from the calving cameras, to registering and tagging animals, to applying for online grants. Since the pandemic, most of the marts have moved to a hybrid approach. Our local mart, the Gortatlea Mart, only takes place online now at night. Without a reliable connection, we wouldn’t have access at all.”
*Data correct as of 25/08/23
Photo caption 3: Peter Hendrick, CEO at National Broadband Ireland, Noreen O’Connor, 50,000th connected customer, with Mick Forry, Director of TV & Broadband at Sky Ireland. Picture: Adrian O’Herlihy.
