National Broadband Ireland (NBI ), the company rolling out the new high speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP ) has confirmed that surveying works in Westmeath are well underway.
In Westmeath, there are approximately 12,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA ), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses, and schools. Under the National Broadband Plan, Westmeath will see an investment of €46M 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 facilitate increased levels of remote working.
NBI crews have made substantial progress in Westmeath, where 960 premises in the Ballymahon deployment area have recently completed surveying work. Additionally, 1,507 premises in the Tyrrellspass deployment area have recently begun these initial works. Surveying paves the way for the next stage of deploying fibre on poles/ducts and includes the erection of poles, unblocking of ducts, and the insertion of sub duct into existing ducts, for the fibre to be installed.
These vital survey works enable “Fibre -to-the-Home” network designs to be completed for each of the 559,000 plus premises in the Intervention Area, as identified by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.
Works have already been completed in other parts of Westmeath and there are 3,501 premises that are available to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 1,209 connections already made to the network. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect.
National Broadband Ireland contractors have been on the ground across the country and over 109,267 premises nationwide are available to order broadband with 27,682 homes and businesses connected to the NBI network so far.
“Momentum has been steadily building in the progression of the National Broadband Plan rollout, with over 1,200 homes in Westmeath now connected to high-speed broadband and substantial progress made across the county.
“Survey and designs are an important part of mapping out how every home, farm and business will be connected, and they provide the blueprint for how the NBI fibre is laid. The BCPs are also a key milestone in delivering access to high-speed internet in the Intervention Area, and we’re delighted to see these being connected for access - internally and externally - right across the county,” NBI Chief Executive Peter Hendrick, said.
