Over 3,800 Mayo properties ready to connect to national broadband high speed fibre
NATIONAL Broadband Ireland (NBI) has announced that overall there are more than 3,800 premises that can be connected to the high-speed fibre-to-the-home network being delivered under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) in the Mayo deployment area.
Up to 37,000 premises in County Mayo are included in the State’s intervention area, which will see NBI deliver minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second to homes, businesses, farms and schools.
As the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification, the county will receive €145 million of government investment under the NBP.
Some 2,000 premises in Ballina and the surrounding areas are ready to connect today to the network while a further 1,800 homes, businesses and farms in Castlebar can also avail of a high speed connection.
NBI is encouraging Mayo residents to visit the nbi.ie website where they can search their Eircode to find out if they are ready to connect and sign up for updates.
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).
Some 59 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the NBI network and 48 are certified as ready to start providing connections.
Peter Hendrick, chief executive officer of National Broadband Ireland, said: “National Broadband Ireland is delighted to announce that over 3,800 homes, farms and businesses in Mayo are now able to connect to our network in towns such as Ballina, Castlebar and Westport.
“We want each household and business in Ireland to have the opportunity to access high-speed broadband and all the benefits it creates. As more and more premises will soon be able to connect, we are looking forward to seeing rural Ireland avail of all the benefits high speed broadband has to offer.”
Martin Carr, owner of The Junction Restaurant in Ballina and one of the first customers to join the NBI network for his home and business, said: “Before high speed broadband, daily activities in the restaurant were time consuming and a lot of work.
“Since getting connected, the time we spend on tasks has reduced dramatically, particularly with giving people the opportunity to pay with card and the tap application. There’s much more certainty around our connection and speeds and our customers enjoy using our WI-FI network while dining in our restaurant.”
NBI contractors have been on the ground since January 2020 surveying townlands across the county. This involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area, and enables design solutions for the provision of the fibre network.