Broadband rollout over 80% complete across the county

The rollout of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) to targetted areas in County Cavan is now almost 80% complete, The Anglo-Celt can confirm, with work continuing apace in the Bawnboy and Dowra areas.

There are 17,000 premises in Co Cavan included in the State’s Intervention Area, of which almost 14,000 homes, and businesses and farms can today avail of a fibre connection through the National Broadband Ireland (NBI) network.

The first premises in the county was connected in February 2021 when the Allison family from the Drumard area outside Cavan became the first rural home in all of Ireland to have high-speed broadband delivered under the Government’s National Broadband Plan. NBI crews have made substantial progress across County Cavan since then with high-speed broadband available from Kilnaleck to Cootehill and many areas in between.

A spokesperson for NBI Ireland gave a progress report to the Celt last week.

“This includes the rural surrounds of Cavan town and Bailieborough. Almost 4,500 Cavan premises have already connected to the NBI network,” she confirmed.

That equates to a take up rate of around 32% or less than one in three premises. It’s slightly behind the national reported average of 35%.

This rate is considered strong and exceeds initial projections and international comparisons. In areas where the NBI network has been live for longer, the connection rate surpasses 50%, according to NBI.

“Network build works are currently underway for almost 1,700 premises in the Bawnboy deployment area and over 500 premises in the Dowra deployment area, due to be connected by the end of next year,” outlined the spokesperson of works currently underway in the county.

As the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification, Co Cavan will receive €65m of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan.

It’s hoped this will better 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.

As a wholesale network operator, NBI does not sell fibre broadband directly to customers but enables services from a range of retail broadband providers.

NBI’s website www.nbi.ie has a search tool to enable the public to check whether their premises is within the rollout area.