High-speed connectivity on the way as over 2,200 Waterford homes, farms and businesses near Dungarvan see build works commence

10,900 homes, businesses and farms in Waterford can avail of a high-speed connection today

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering e 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 over 2,200 homes, farms and businesses in the Dungarvan deployment areas in Co Waterford. This includes the rural surrounds of Dungarvan, Ardmore and Clonea.  

16,000 premises in Co Waterford 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 Waterford will receive €59M of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan. 

Having successfully completed the survey and design phase of the project, 2,236 Waterford premises in the Dungarvan deployment area are under construction to have high-speed fibre network, due to be connected by the end of the 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 Waterford and surrounding areas, such as the rural surrounds of Ballinamult and Tallow. There is a total of 10,903 premises that can now order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 3,884 premises already connected to the network. NBI 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 346,000 homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland with over 120,000 of these now connected 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 are working on the ground all over the country and considerable progress has been made on the developments in Waterford. High-speed fibre broadband is now available to order for over 10,900 including: 

  • over 2,100 premises near Tallow,
  • almost 3,900 surrounding Waterford city,
  • over 1,200 near Youghal along the Cork-Waterford County border, 
  • almost 1,700 near Ballinamult, and
  • over 2,000 near Carrick-on-Suir and Clonmel on the Tipperary-Waterford County border.

“We are working hard on the ground to progress other areas of the county through engineering survey and design phases. We are encouraging 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 www.nbi.ie to receive regular notifications related to their own premises as works progress 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 www.nbi.ie/bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Waterford include Ballysaggart Community Centre, Knockanore Community Centre and Modeligo Community Hall. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are now connected for educational access as part of the NBP.