Surveys paving way for Broadband Plan
THE FIRST homes in Wexford are expected to be connected to the national broadband network early next year as National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company working with the Government to deliver the National Broadband Plan anounced that surveying works are underway in several areas of the county.
Contractors have been on the ground since January surveying townlands in Oylegate, Castlebridge, Taghmon, Ballykelly, and Barntown. Over 3,500 premises have been surveyed to date in the county, including other areas such including Castle Ellis, Kilbride, Ballyhuskard, Bridgetown and Whitechurch.
The work involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area.
The purpose is to enable design solutions for the provision of a fibre network to every premises in the Intervention Area – a map of almost 537,000 premises nationwide identified by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment as not being served with adequate broadband services.
In Wexford, there are 22,175 premises the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and school. This equates to 27 per cent of all premises in the county.
Under the National Broadband Plan, Wexford will see an investment of €88m 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, all of which support the National Development Plan.
The first homes in Wexford will be connected early next year, while over 115,000 premises nationwide will be passed by the fibre network and available for connection within the next 18 months.
NBI expects that in year three of the rollout, 40% of all premises in the IA will have access to future-proofed high-speed FTTH (Fibre-to-the-Home) broadband.
NBI has updated its website www.nbi. ie with a search tool to enable the public to check whether their premises is within the rollout area, and to show indicative dates for early surveying areas.
Separately, the interim Broadband Connection Points (BCP) scheme is well under way with NBI surveying ofapproximately 300 locations throughout Ireland.
These facilities which include GAA clubs, schools and community centres will provide free access to high speed internet in the rollout area, allowing rural communities in the IA to receive the benefits of broadband.
In Wexford, some BCPs include Hook Head Lighthouse, Ballyfad Community Centre and both Marshalstown and St Mary’s GAA Clubs. BCP locations are subject to change, and will be operated by a designated internet service provider.