National Broadband Plan passes 75,000 connections nationwide

National Broadband Ireland (NBI) has announced that it has now connected over 75,000 homes, farms and businesses under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) to high-speed fibre broadband. NBI and Minister Ossian Smyth will mark the milestone at Herbst Software in Wicklow which recently joined the network.

NBI will also celebrate another milestone as it confirmed that it has now passed 40 per cent of the farms and businesses included in the Intervention Area. In total, NBI will connect 91,999 farms and businesses in rural Ireland to high-speed broadband with 36,972 of these now able to avail of a connection.

Businesses connected by National Broadband Ireland have access to additional services and products that offer increased download and upload speeds to ensure no bottlenecks during busy periods and times of elevated usage. Standards speeds across all NBI connection types guarantee speeds of 500Mbit/s with additional products available that can deliver speeds of up to 2Gbit/s.

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: “Connections to NBI’s network have more than doubled in the last 12 months with over 75,000 premises now connected.

“Over 232,000 premises are ready to connect by signing up with one of our 62 retail partners. We’re hearing back from connected customers that access to our network is transformational, especially for businesses based in rural parts of the country like Herbst, which is already utilising its new connection to support its operations across Ireland.

“NBI’s network is designed to cater for all use cases from everyday streaming at home to the most data-intensive commercial operations. Our guaranteed minimum speeds are best in class and where businesses need more, we can offer more.”

Minister Ossian Smyth, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement, eGovernment and Circular Economy, said: “The National Broadband Plan continues to see very strong demand. We are seeing that take-up of fibre connectivity for homes and businesses is increasing substantially as it is deployed to areas where it had previously been unavailable.

“Businesses and families can now access high-speed internet and join 75,000 Irish households, farms and businesses who have signed up, with the service currently available to over 232,000. The connection of businesses like Herbst Software shows that even if your business is based in a remote part of the country, you can still have access to fast and reliable broadband.”

Michael Herbst, Chairman of Herbst Group, said: “Gaining access to the NBI fibre network has been an important step for our business operations. For a company like ours, with offices in different parts of the country, reliable and fast internet is so important to allow our teams to work together efficiently.

“High-speed broadband isn’t just a connection, it’s a lifeline for modern business operations in rural Ireland.  It’s a tool that will allow us to continue to innovate and grow into the future.”

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