Piltown and Fiddown builds its own 150MB plus network

It’s not every day a rural community decides to build its own Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network. But Piltown and Fiddown, a growing hinterland close to the Kilkenny-Waterford-Tipperary border, is no ordinary community so nothing was going to get in its way.

The community and, more particularly, the voluntary Broadband 4 Our Community (B4OC) group has made history.

Their dream has become a reality with the connection of the first homes and businesses in the community to the broadband network.

In all, 750 homes and businesses in a 3.4 square kilometre area now have, or will soon have, access to at least 150MB speeds and a future-proofed high-speed broadband service they can afford.

Piltown and Fiddown

And better still, it is community-owned, community-driven and managed by B4OC, a locally-based not-for-profit company whose board of enthusiastic volunteers.

Their range of skills and expertise, together with a shared vision of the project and the benefits to their community both now and into the future, has brought the project to fruition, making it the first of its kind in Ireland.

It means that businesses such as Iverk Produce/O’Shea Farms, one of the largest suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetables in Ireland, and a host of other small and medium-sized enterprises in the locality have the broadband service and infrastructure they need.

Hundreds of families who struggled with speeds of between 1MB and 6MB also have the fibre power they need to work and study from home, to conference call and stream and really enjoy the benefits of living in rural Ireland.

B4OC’s vision and aim since the project was first mooted by Kilkenny LEADER Partnership (KLP) back in 2019 was to deliver true, future-proofed high-speed broadband for the community of Piltown and Fiddown, Project Manager, Jim O’Brien, explained.

“KLP and its philanthropic funding partner, the Tomar Trust, supplied technical assistance, planning, training and capital funding to the community to develop and advance the project. After that, the community drove on and did everything else.

“Businesses donated bits, gave us other items we needed at cost and dug deep with us. My own father-in-law is a retired fitter and he has been out in the trenches and up poles with me as we built the infrastructure.

“All of this has been built on private lands and sits in the landscape. We’ve now completed Phase 1 and have a few phases to go now.”

The two villages are among approximately 20 similar-sized villages and towns in Kilkenny classified on an EU standard set over a dozen years ago as having “adequate broadband”.

Therefore, they are not included for investment under the National Broadband Plan. But much has changed in what’s regarded as “adequate broadband” since 2010 and the reality on the ground now is far different. Locals in the Piltown-Fiddown area were adamant they would not be left behind.

“This is a network in which our community is invested,” B4OC Chairman, Brian Doyle, explained.

“Given that laying fibre-optic cable is expensive, using the future-proofed FTTP model employed by the telecommunications industry was the only way forward.

“Doing it mostly ourselves meant that our costs were greatly reduced. This is a service by the community, for the community which is owned by the community and run in its interest. It is a much leaner development model and operates on a not-for profit community-owned basis.

“We even hope to be able to pay a community dividend and the intention is that this money would finance other community projects.”

For more, visit www.betterbroadbandforpiltown.com