Most Laois premises haven't connected to €49 m national broadband
National Broad Ireland claims the uptake has been 'very strong' in Laois
More than 7,000 Laois households, farms and businesses have yet to start using taxpayer-funded high-speed internet broadband which is expected to cost €49 million to complete in Laois.
The figures were revealed in conjunction with the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska where National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company rolling out the new high-speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP), has announced that over 84% Laois premises can now connect to the NBI™ network.
However, the figures revealed a slow take up so far. It said there are 10,840 homes, farms and businesses in Laois that are now ready to connect. Of these, just 3,746 premises are connected to high-speed fibre broadband on the NBI™ network. When work is complete a total 13,000 would be served by the NBP infrastructure, which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools.
NBI has previously said that it is not responsible for activating a connection between the premises and the fibre cable. This must be done by a telecoms provider.
NBI say that under the National Broadband Plan, Laois will see an investment of €49m in the county's new high-speed fibre network. NBI says this will enable e-learning, remote monitoring of livestock or equipment, e-health initiatives, better energy efficiency in the home, and facilitate remote working.
“In Laois, over 10,800 premises can connect to the NBI™ network. This includes the rural surrounds of Portlaoise and Ballylinan. Most recently, NBI’s fibre broadband has been made available for over 2,500 premises Mountrath deployment area. This includes the rural areas and townlands surrounding Mountrath, Abbeyleix and Borris-in-Ossory.
“Already 3,700 Laois homes, farms and businesses have signed up with one of NBI’s retail partners and I’m encouraging Laois resident to visit nbi.ie where they can check their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect and sign up for updates,” he said.
NBI is designing, building and operating the new high-speed fibre broadband network for rural Ireland on behalf of the Irish Government as part of a multi-billion deal that also involves managing the fibre network for 25 years.