High-speed broadband works in Mullingar continue apace

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company rolling out the new high-speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) today announced that fibre build works in parts of Mullingar and its rural hinterland are well under way.

In Mullingar, over 4,100 premises have been surveyed to date with network designs completed to deliver the new Fibre to the Home (FTTH) network in the area. NBI crews have started initial works for the build in townlands across Mullingar including Gaybrook, Mahonstown, Knockdrin, Ballinderry, Sonna, and Rathconrath.

These ‘make ready’ works pave the way for the next stage of deploying fibre on poles/ducts, and include the erection of poles, unblocking of ducts, and the insertion of subduct into existing ducts, for the fibre to be installed.

The website is regularly updated to show estimated service activation dates and the Mullingar deployment area has anticipated service activation dates from January 2022 to March 2022. Signing up to the NBI email notifications at https://nbi.ie/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.

In Westmeath, there are 11,761 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. This equates to 26% of all premises in the county. Under the National Broadband Plan, Westmeath will see an investment of €46 million in the new high speed fibre network. This will enable e-learning, remote monitoring of livestock or equipment, e-health initiatives, better energy efficiency in the home, and more remote working.

In advance of the Fibre-to-the-Home roll out, the NBP provides for the delivery of Broadband Connection Points (BCP’s) nationwide. 214 of these sites are now ‘live’ and have both internal and external broadband access.

These facilities - which include sports clubs, community centres and tourist sites – will provide free public access to high-speed internet in the rollout area.

These 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 /bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Westmeath that are connected are Castledaly Community Centre, Milltown Emper Community Centre, Clonkill Hurling Club, and Ballycomoyle GAA Club. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.

NBI chief executive Peter Hendrick said the company was satisfied with the progress being made: “Momentum has been steadily building in the progression of the National Broadband Plan rollout, with homes across the country being connected to high-speed broadband. Our teams continue to work on the rollout plan and substantial progress has been made from surveying, design, build to connection works.”

He continued: “As an increasing number of homes and businesses are being connected, we are confident that the rollout will continue to gather pace as we look to connect thousands more homes and businesses. We are currently working closely with retail service providers, and other stakeholders, to connect the first homes in Westmeath before the end of 2021. Minimum speeds of 500Mb will be available.”

“Our mission is to end the digital divide across the country. Digital connectivity is critical to many of our activities, and this new Fibre-to-the-Home network, will be a key enabler for the sustainability of local businesses and communities.”