I have been informed by National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the new future-proofed, high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the National Broadband Plan on behalf of the Government, has said that over 3,007 Galway properties in its Duniry deployment area can now avail of a high-speed fibre broadband connection. The area covers the rural surrounds of Portumna, Abbey and Killimor in the Duniry deployment area.

40,000 premises in Co Galway 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.

“I welcome the progress being made as this is the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification. County Galway will receive €153M of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan.

The Plan will be a game changer for rural Ireland, and I am delighted that the actions I took when Minister of State in the Department of Communications are reaping the rewards for rural Ireland”.

There are 3,007 Galway premises in the Duniry deployment area deployment area that can now join the National Broadband Ireland network. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people living nearby to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect.

“Works have already been completed for over half of the premises included in the National Broadband Plan in Co Galway as a total of 21,836 premises can now pre-order or order high-speed, reliable broadband. There have been 7,291 connections made so far across the county.

Works are also continuing across Galway as over 1,200 premises near Maam have recently moved through the network build phase, while survey works have been completed for almost 2,800 premises in Belclare”.

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.

So far the roll out is now over the half-way mark as over 21,700 homes, businesses and farms in Co Galway can now order a high-speed fibre connection to the National Broadband Ireland network. This includes:
• Over 2,500 near Ballinasloe
• Over 2,500 near Gort
• Almost 2,500 near Loughrea
• Over 1,500 near Gurteen
• Almost 2,600 near Athenry
• Almost 800 along the Roscommon County border and now over 3,000 near Portumna

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). As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new Fibre-to-the-Home network available to all RSPs operating in the Intervention Area.

Some 72 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the National Broadband Ireland network and 68 are certified as ready to start providing connections as of today. To see the retail broadband providers that are currently licensed to sell on the National Broadband Ireland network, visit NBI.ie/buy.

The National Broadband Ireland website is regularly updated to show estimated connection dates. 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.

Broadband Connection Points
In advance of the Fibre-to-the-Home rollout, the NBP provides for the delivery of Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) nationwide. 955 of these sites, including Public BCPs, are now ‘live’. Public BCPs – which include sports clubs, community centres and tourist sites – will provide free public access to high-speed internet in the rollout area. Other BCP categories include schools and marts.

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 www.nbi.ie/bcp-map/.

An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Galway include Lackagh Heritage Centre and Museum, Clarinbridge Nursing Home, and Ballyglunin Train Station. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are now connected for educational access as part of the NBP.