Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 June 2023
133. Deputy Frankie Feighan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to report on the roll-out of the National Broadband Plan; the number of premises that were passed and connected as of May 2023; and the way that he plans to accelerate the delivery of the plan in counties Sligo and Leitrim. [28875/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Broadband Plan (NBP) state led intervention is being 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 National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that, as of 02 June 2023, 147,159 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection. 42,805 connections have already been made to the NBP high-speed broadband network. NBI has advised that as of 02 June, 2,900 premises in County Sligo are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection with 1,134 premises connected. In County Leitrim 895 premises are passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and available for immediate connection with 135 premises connected.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Sligo and Leitrim can be monitored via nbi.ie/reps. A county update can be selected to provide the overall number of premises in the Intervention Area, the overall NBP investment in the county, the number of premises passed and connected to date and the status of each of the Deployment Areas with the anticipated date for connection over the lifetime of the project. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.
The network roll-out for the NBP is divided into 227 Deployment Areas (DAs) across the country. These are typically an area of approximately 25km in radius and in total they cover 96% of Ireland’s landmass. The network is specifically designed based on the NBI network coming from the eir exchanges or the metropolitan area networks (MANs) which allows NBI to reach every premises as quickly as possible. Villages, townlands and counties are covered by a number of DAs which means there are differing timescales for the roll-out across county areas.
The NBP network build, that started in 2020, is scheduled to be completed by 2027.
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 June 2023, 926 SCP sites 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 publicly accessible sites and the Department of Education for school BCPs. In County Sligo all 9 BCPs have been installed to date with all 11 installed in Leitrim. Further details can be found at nbi.ie/bcp-map/.
In County Sligo all 24 schools have been installed to date for educational access with 14 installed in Leitrim. 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/.
