UPDATE: Surveying for National Broadband Plan continues in County Kildare

Surveying for the National Broadband Plan (NBP) continues in Kildare — that's according to the company rolling out the new high speed fibre broadband network on behalf of the Irish government.

National Broadband Ireland (NBI) today announced that surveying works in Kildare are well underway, after first beginning on January 14 last.

It follows less than a week after the Dáil was told that the rollout of the NBP has fallen behind schedule and will not meet its targets.

Kildare progress

NBI said in a statement: "In Kildare, there are 14,849 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools: this equates to 14 per cent of all premises in the county."

"Under the NBP, Kildare will see an investment of €53M 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 facilitate increased levels of remote working."

NBI further claimed that "substantial progress" has been made in Kildare, especially in the Curragh Camp and Donadea regions.

The group explained: "These initial works pave the way for the next stage of deploying fibre on poles/ducts and includes the erection of poles, unblocking of ducts, and the insertion of sub duct into existing ducts, for the fibre to be installed."

"All NBI contractors will also carry official ID cards and essential worker letters, and have received training on adhering to all Covid 19 guidelines: they will have vehicles, PPE and signage with both their own, and NBI logos," NBI added.

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Broadband Connection Points

In advance of the Fibre-to-the-Home roll out, NBI said that the NBP provides for the delivery of Broadband Connection Points (BCP’s) nationwide: "453 of these sites are now ‘live’ and have both internal and external broadband access. These facilities - which include GAA clubs, community centres and tourist sites – will provide free public access to high speed internet in the rollout area."

"These will pave the way for rural communities to receive the benefits of broadband, from mobile working, e-learning and mobile banking, to digital tourism: a full list can be found at https://nbi.ie/bcp-map/. 

"Locations of Broadband Connection Points in county Kildare will include Rathmore National School, Bigstone Community Hall, St. David’s National School and Lullymore Heritage Park.

"Primary schools in the IA are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP," the organisation added.

Concerning progress on the ground, NBI's Chief Executive Peter Hendrick said: "Survey and designs are an important part of mapping out how every home, farm and business will be connected, and they provide the blueprint for how the NBI fibre is laid.

"The BCPs are also a key milestone in delivering access to high-speed internet in the IA, and we’re delighted to see these being connected for access - internally and externally - right across the county," he added.

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IA map and further details

The State's IA for the NBP includes over 554,000 premises and over 1.1 million people and includes any new homes built in this area over the next 25 years.

The IA can be viewed using the Government’s High Speed Broadband Map, which shows the areas which are included in the National Broadband Plan.

The map is colour-coded and is searchable by both address and Eircode.

NBI’s website www.nbi.ie has a search tool to enable the public to check whether their premises is within the rollout area, and to show indicative dates for areas being surveyed.

NBI’s contact centre can be reached at 0818 624 624 (lo-call) or contactus@nbi.ie.

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