Boost as 1,600 premises in North Kilkenny will soon be able to order high-speed broadband

National Broadband Ireland (NBI) has announced that over 1,600 premises in Johnstown and nearby townlands and villages in Kilkenny will be able to order or pre-order broadband on the NBI network very shortly. 

NBI is the company delivering the new future-proofed, high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) on behalf of the Government. Around 19,000 premises in County Kilkenny 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. As the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification, County Kilkenny will receive €72 million of Government investment under the NBP. 

NBI crews have made substantial progress in County Kilkenny and premises will soon go live in Johnstown where 1,663 premises will be able to order or pre-order broadband on the NBI network. This follows the recent announcement that 3,500 premises in Kilkenny City can also avail of NBI broadband.

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 57 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the NBI network and 44 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 NBI network, visit NBI.ie/buy.

The NBI 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.  

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: “We are delighted to announce that premises in Johnstown will soon be able to order or pre-order broadband services through the NBI network. This will enable users to experience the life-changing benefits that high-speed broadband provides.

“We are confident that the rollout will continue to gather pace as our ability to move premises from the construction phase to the order phase ramps up. We are acutely aware that people want access to high-speed broadband and our goal is to deliver that as quickly as possible.” 

Under the National Broadband Plan, 559,000 premises nationwide are included in the Intervention Area, which was established by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications to identify areas where commercial operators are not currently providing access to high-speed broadband or do not intend to. 

NBI is encouraging people to check their eligibility and register for updates at www.nbi.ie to receive regular notifications related to their own premises as works progresses in their area.