Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 December 2022
134. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications when the roll-out of high-speed broadband under the National Broadband Plan will reach Kiskeam, County Cork. [62461/22]
View answerThe National Broadband Plan (NBP) state led intervention will be delivered by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) under a contract to roll out a high speed and future proofed broadband network within the intervention area which covers 1.1 million people living and working in over 560,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with some 679 schools.
I am advised by NBI that, as of 02 December, over 112,200 premises can order or pre-order a high-speed broadband connection across 25 counties, with over 101,700 premises passed across 25 counties and available for immediate connection. Construction is underway across 26 counties demonstrating that the project is reaching scale. To date, the level of connections is increasing on a daily basis and is exceeding, projections.
NBI advise there are 81,507 premises in County Cork that will be passed by National Broadband Ireland with high-speed fibre broadband as part of the State Intervention under the National Broadband Plan. To date in Cork over 15,711 premises are passed by the NBP fibre network and available for immediate connection.
Strategic Connection Points (SCPs) are a key element of the NBP providing high speed broadband in every county in advance of the roll out of the fibre to the home network. As of 02 December 2022, 823 SCP sites (280 Broadband Connection Points, which are publicly accessible sites, and 543 schools) have been installed and the high-speed broadband service will be switched on in these locations through service provider contracts managed by the Department of Rural and Community Development for BCPs and the Department of Education for school SCPs. In County Cork 24 BCPs have been installed to date.
In County Cork 85 schools BCPs have been installed to date for educational access. My Department continues to work with the Department of Education to prioritise schools with no high-speed broadband, within the Intervention Area. Further details are available on the NBI website at nbi.ie/primary-schools-list/.
Kiskeam is located within the Deployment Area (DA) of Rathmore in which the network build is currently in progress. NBI advise that the anticipated date for connection will be between July and September 2023.
