National Broadband Plan on track as half of premises can now order fibre broadband

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company responsible for delivering the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP), has announced in its latest quarterly report that 50% of premises are now ready to connect to its new national network. Over 300,000 premises are scheduled to be passed by the end of this year.

There are now 283,638 homes, farms and businesses out of the 564,000 included in the NBP Intervention Area that have been passed with fibre cabling. When a premises is passed, this means that an order can be placed to connect it to high-speed fibre broadband on the NBI™ network.

There are 91,739 premises that have ordered and now connected to NBI fibre broadband with the average take-up rate well ahead of projections and international comparisons. The connection rate reaches 50% in areas where the NBI network has been live for the longest.

Construction has been completed or is currently underway for 466,725 premises. Over 42,000km of fibre has been laid since the commencement of construction work, which is enough to circumnavigate the Earth.

NBI has almost completed the early phases of its rollout in all parts of the Intervention Area. These preliminary works include the physical surveying of existing pole and duct network across the country, which is then followed by a detailed design process where the route for fibre is determined. Over 93% of premises included in the rollout have been surveyed while 91% of design work has been completed.

Minister Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for Communications and Circular Economy, said: “Today, Ireland has reached the milestone where half of all homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland can access fibre. High-speed fibre broadband is life-changing for rural communities. The progress to date reaffirms the Government’s commitment to extending fibre broadband access to everyone living and working in Ireland.” 

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: “National Broadband Ireland has maintained momentum throughout the year and the rollout is progressing on budget and on schedule. We are now passing 10,000 new homes and businesses with high-speed fibre broadband every month which leaves us well placed to complete the rollout by the end of 2026.  

“The feedback from our customers has been incredibly positive. A connection to NBI fibre broadband is enabling people to move to rural Ireland and work remotely, allowing farmers to boost their productivity with new tech, and empowering entrepreneurs to launch new businesses. The NBI™ network is creating limitless opportunities for rural Ireland.” 

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 National Broadband Ireland 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 National Broadband Ireland network, visit?NBI.ie/buy.

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