Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 May 2022
57. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will provide the dates of the first pre-orders made in the Castlebar and Ballina deployment areas for connections to the national broadband plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25399/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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 almost 560,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with some 679 schools.
I am advised by NBI that as of 6 May 2022, over 325,000 premises have now been surveyed and over 175,000 premises are under construction or complete across 26 counties, demonstrating that the project is reaching scale. I am further advised that over 65,500 premises are now available to order or pre-order a high-speed broadband connection across 23 counties, with almost 50,000 premises passed across 22 counties and available for immediate connection.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Mayo through the NBI website which provides a facility for any premises within the intervention area to register their interest in being provided with deployment updates through its website www.nbi.ie. Individuals who register with this facility will receive regular updates on progress by NBI on delivering the network and specific updates related to their own premises as works commence.
The specific query raised in the Question is an operational matter for NBI. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries. NBI has made recent improvements to their website to enhance the provision of information to Oireachtas members. NBI has now completed a suite of changes, creating a portal that will serve as a means for Oireachtas members to proactively search for information relevant to their county/local area. The portal provides an up-to-date picture of NBI’s deployment schedule across the 227 Deployment Areas (DAs) in all 26 counties. A particular county can be selected to view an update of the overall number of premises in the Intervention Area, the overall NBP investment in the county, the number of premises passed to date and the status of each of the Deployment Areas with the anticipated date for connection over the lifetime of the project. The dedicated webpage can be accessed here: www.nbi.ie/reps.
Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) 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 6 May, 574 BCP sites have been installed by NBI 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 publicly accessible sites and the Department of Education for school BCPs. In County Mayo 15 BCP’s have been installed to date. Further details can be found at nbi.ie/bcp-locations/.
In County Mayo 33 schools have been installed by NBI 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 of schools in scope are available on the NBI website at nbi.ie/primary-schools-list/.
