National Broadband Plan passes half-way mark with 300,000 homes and premises covered

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) has now been rolled out to more than half homes and premises earmarked for coverage under the multibillioneuro project.
In an update, National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company responsible for delivering the infrastructure, said 310,676 homes, farms and businesses had now been “passed” by the new high-speed fibre network out of the 564,000 included in the NBP intervention area. This equates to 55 per cent.
The company noted it was on course to exceed 420,000 premises by the end of next year while construction has been completed or is under way for 86 per cent of premises (483,594).
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When a premises is passed, an order can be placed by the occupant to connect through one of 72 potential providers utilising the network.
NBI said take-up rates were continuing to grow [and] that as of October 104,517 premises have connected to the NBI network, which corresponded to an average take-up rate of 34 per cent which it said was “well in advance of projections and international comparisons”.
The connection rate reached 50 per cent in areas where the NBI network has been live for at least 18 months, it said. NBI said more than 4,500 premises were connected to the network in October, the highest number of monthly connections.
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Chief executive Peter Hendrick said: “There is huge demand for fast, reliable broadband and our take-up rates are reflecting this. We’re working hard on the ground to ensure our roll-out stays on track and we have now achieved and exceeded our targets for 2024.
“Next year, we aim to have passed over 420,000 homes, businesses, and farms, which will leave us in a strong position to complete our roll-out program in line with our contractual commitments.
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“While NBI’s initial, large-scale roll-out project will be completed in the coming years, this is only the beginning of our digital connectivity role. NBI will continue to operate the network and connect new homes and businesses to our fibre infrastructure for the next 20 years at least.”