Political Representatives

About – Political Reps Page

Welcome to NBI’s portal to assist public representatives, their staff, and constituents with queries in relation to the National Broadband Plan for each county. Here you will find a breakdown of our deployment schedule across more than 227 Deployment Areas in all 26 counties across Ireland.

This page also provides answers to the most regularly featured questions from national and local representatives on matters affecting their constituents. If you cannot source the answer to your query using this facility, please email our team at reps@nbi.ie for further assistance

Connecting Communities – Significant Progress Already Made

Across the project, NBI have already made major achievements providing a degree of momentum and a greater level of assurance, not only about the 2022 targets but also about the fact that the programme will still be delivered within the originally planned 7-year programme, despite the unprecedented impact of the Covid pandemic and even though the Intervention Area has grown significantly since the project began.

As work is progressing across all 26 counties in the country, we’re seeing strong momentum across the build programme and are pleased to share this latest build update with the key indicators in the rollout.

Premises Surveyed

0
386,572 premises
68% complete
569,000
386,572 premises

Premises Designs Complete

0
371,274 premises
65% complete
569,000
371,274 premises

Premises Under Construction/ Constructed

0
279,769 premises
49% complete
569,000
279,769 premises

Premises available for order/pre-order

0
138,086 premises
24% complete
569,000
138,086 premises

Premises Passed

0
126,806 premises
22% complete
569,000
126,806 premises

*Progress as of 24.03.23

*Progress as of 28.02.23

Looking to search an individual home or business? We have a dedicated eircode search that will help you see what status that property is at. The eircode search will also give you a timeline for an anticipated date for connection.

Search an Eircode

Explainer Videos

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FAQ’s

Current Status

How has NBI been impacted by COVID-19, if it is an essential service?

Our employees and indeed our contractors are not immune to COVID-19 and the restrictions that were imposed at various stages of the pandemic.

The fact that places where workers would normally avail of personal hygiene services and rest-stops were closed during the restrictions was very impactful.

As an example, in January, during the Omicron wave, one contractor had 60% of staff out, either with COVID-19 or in isolation.

Why are some premises still not going to be connected until 2026?

 At bid stage, NBI’s deployment plan envisaged a 7 year programme – meaning that premises were always going to be passed and connected in 2026.

NBI is tasked with deploying the high-speed fibre build programme across all 26 counties, with all counties expecting to experience some element of the survey, design, build and connection work simultaneously. There has never been a project like this attempted.

We are actively working in 102 Deployments Areas across 26 counties and we have almost 130,000 premises available to order or pre-order connections in 18 counties today.

The capacity of this project is expanding all the time and we believe this year, 2022, will see real confidence grow in the project.

For instance, in Waterford over 5,500 premises are going live in the county this year.  That is over a third (36%) of all premises covered by the programme.  Other counties will see similar construction progress through 2022 and 2023.  

Customer/ End – User Questions

I am building a new (one-off) house, how can I get broadband?

We would encourage people building a new property to engage with the Eircode process as early as they can.  Once they have their Eircode they should notify the Broadband Officer in their Local Authority.

National Broadband Ireland does not control the scope of the Intervention Area under the NBP, and therefore has no authority to add premises not pre-approved for service. 

DECC advises that commercial operators have indicated their plans to supply Gigabit services to all premises in the BLUE area of the NBP Map by 2026.  Under State aid rules, the Department is not permitted to displace commercial investment by intervening in areas where commercial investment exists or is planned, as to do so would be an infringement of these State aid rules.

My constituent has fibre on their road, only 200-300 metres away, why can’t they get connected sooner?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions from political representatives and members of the public of NBI. The Intervention Area under the National Broadband Plan is not an exclusion zone for private operators. The is nothing in the contract between NBI and the Irish Government that prevents a private operator from extending their existing infrastructure 200, 300 metres or 500, 700 metres further along a road to reach additional premises.

Can existing networks be extended? Yes. However, the extension of existing infrastructure that is owned by other operators in the market is not a matter for NBI, it’s a matter for the operator of the existing infrastructure.

Infrastructure

Would wireless broadband be quicker to deploy?

The contract for the National Broadband Plan largely envisages a fixed fibre connection to deliver high-speed connectivity to the over 560,000 premises in the Intervention Area.

The contract allows for 1-2% in the form of ‘alternative technology’ but NBI envisages this will be for premises that are extremely difficult or expensive to reach.

The Department is of the view that where any ‘alternative’ is considered; that it must be able to deliver the same capacity for end-users.

Are you using Eir/ESB infrastructure as part of the rollout?

NBI is using various third-party infrastructure including eir and enet, leasing for 25 years over the lifetime of the project and contract. NBI has regular contact and a strong working relationship with both providers.

The EMR (Eir Make Ready) programme is vital to our fibre deployment programme. Eir is involved in pole replacement, duct remediation and the clearance of blockages to enable the NBI fibre build.

NBI is also working with 31 Local Authorities across Ireland as part of our deployment plan. It took time to put in place an agreed national structure around licensing with these local authorities and we are pleased to say, in the main, this is working well. The structure was agreed in May 2021 and was an essential component in bringing about certainty around how NBI would engage with local authorities and where and when we could deploy.

Acceleration

What can be done to speed up the rollout?

Recent media reports have said NBI believes it is possible to complete this project over 6 years.   We have a growing confidence in the build pipeline, and it remains our ambition to reduce the overall timeline of the project.

However, to do so requires additional capacity in the Eir Make Ready (EMR) programme, whether undertaken by eir or by NBI through a fit for purpose self-install product.  This remains an area we continue to explore actively with eir, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) and the telecoms regulator, ComReg.

If NBI is to accelerate the programme, and do so effectively, there are many moving parts that would all be necessary to move forward together.

Governance

What governance is in place to ensure the interests of the State and the taxpayer are protected?

There are many protections for the State within the Project Agreement.  These include mechanisms to ensure value for money is achieved and that payment of subsidy is only made when detailed milestone achievement criteria are fulfilled.  There are also prescriptive requirements to ensure that the standard of service being provided by NBI is best in class. 

There are also provisions which ensure alignment between NBI’s and the State’s interests; this means that the better NBI performs, whether by saving costs or increasing revenue, the State benefits through clawback mechanisms. 

NBI is adopting a best in class approach to corporate governance and the Minister has an appointee on the Boards and Audit & Risk and Remuneration Committees of NBII and NBID.

What can be done to speed up the rollout?

We have a growing confidence in the deployment plan, underpinned by significant volumes of completed surveys and designs and build in progress.  It remains our ambition to reduce the overall timeline for delivery of network.

If NBI is to accelerate the programme, and do so effectively, there are many moving parts that would all be necessary to come together.  For example, we would require additional capacity in the Eir Make Ready (EMR) programme, whether undertaken by eir or by NBI through a fit for purpose self-install product.  This remains an area we continue to explore actively with eir, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) and the telecoms regulator, ComReg.

Subsidy

Why is the Minister stating that the maximum subsidy is €2.1Bn and NBI is stating that it’s €2.6Bn?

€2.1Bn is the baseline amount of subsidy available to the NBP. There is a further €500M available in the event that certain evidenced circumstances occur, resulting in additional costs to the Project.

It is standard in construction projects – from doing building work on one’s house to building motorways – to create a contingency budget like this, to be spent only in certain specific circumstances.

How much subsidy has been paid to NBI already?

Up to 31st December 2021, NBI had received subsidy totaling €177m.  An additional €193m is budgeted to be drawn down in 2022.

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