Sligo won’t get full broadband ‘til 2023

LATEST research is indicating Sligo won’t get fully supplied with high speed broadband until 2023.

That’s according to the Irish Central Border Area Network (ICBAN) which has been monitoring the rate of progress of the National Broadband Plan (NBP).

ICBAN CEO Shane Campbell presented their findings to Councillors at the October meeting last week. He said county broadband targets should be published, coverage for very rural areas needs to be planned for and rural masts should be upgraded.

Their next steps are to continue monitoring progress with the Government, engage with interest groups on mobile coverage obligation and address cross-border inadvertent roaming.

Cllr Hubert Keaney said someone should analyse the negatives of Broadband as well as the positives: “What will it do to the local shop? the local post office?” he asked.

Cllr Tom MacSharry “fundamentally” disagreed with Cllr Keaney, saying that broadband was “crucial” to rural entrepreneurs who need broadband to have a realistic chance of growing.”

Cllr Keith Henry pointed to the fact that after 2022, 201,000 homes would still be without broadband: “undoubtedly that’s going to affect Sligo and with only two bidders, there might be problems with delivery and value.”

Cllr Paul Taylor said a lot of houses in Gurteen were not getting what they were supposed to from Eir.

Mr Campbell said a Not-In-My-Back-Yard (NIMBY) attitude to masts was one road block. Another was the operators needed to improve their network. He also said rural areas could potentially benefit longer term from fibre optic which was better than copper cables to houses: “The more fibre, the better the service.”