Milestone broadband connection marked in County Cork

NATIONAL Broadband Ireland announced the 50,000th connection to the high-speed fibre network under the National Broadband Plan at a special event in Cork this week. 

High-speed fibre connections are now available to over 180,000 premises across the country, with the NBI saying it is currently working ahead of its rollout plan. 

The milestone connection was marked at an event at a farm in Knocknagree on Monday. 

Peter Hendrick, CEO of NBI, said 22,000 people in Cork can currently avail of the fibre service. 

“Every day of the week we are connecting homes and the home in Knocknagree was the 50,000th connection. In County Cork, one-quarter of the rollout is now complete with almost 22,000 premises ready to connect. 

"We are progressing in all the counties at the same time. By the end of next year, the entire country will be under construction. There is real confidence the programme will be delivered by the end of 2026,” he said.

“We are making good progress,” said Mr Hendrick.

“We have 180,000 homes now available to place an order. We are probably three to four months ahead of plan right now. 

"We have about 1,800 people working across the country. We have increased the total capacity on the ground to build out the network. A lot of that comes down to survey and design. We are approaching 80% of the entire country surveyed. We have 60% of the entire country under construction of the fibre. We are deploying about 2,000 kilometres of fibre every month."

Knocknagree native Noreen O’Connor, who is connected to the NBI network, said having high-speed broadband has made life much easier.

“There are several things on the farm that require a strong broadband connection from the calving cameras, to registering and tagging animals, to applying for online grants. 

"Having high-speed broadband has made life much easier. Without a reliable connection, we wouldn’t have access at all.”