Construction of broadband network begins in Navan area

The roll out of high speed fibre broadband to homes in the Navan area that fall under the National Broadband Plan has moved a step closer with news that construction work has commenced.

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company rolling out the new high speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) today announced that construction has commenced to deliver high-speed broadband to almost 3,400 premises in the Navan deployment area.

The company also announced today that surveying work has been completed on almost 1,400 premises in the Kingscourt deployment area, which takes in north Meath.

In Meath, there are approximately 21,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. These are homes and premises where the commercial operators are not installing fibre broadband as it is not commercially viable.

To date just 31 homes are ready for connection as part of the NBI roll out. However, this figure will increase over the course of 2023 as homes in Meath that fall into the Drogheda, Delvin and Dunboyne/Clonee Deployment areas are passed for connection.

Under the National Broadband Plan, County Meath will see an investment of €76M in the new high speed fibre network. This will enable e-learning, remote monitoring of livestock or equipment, e-health initiatives, better energy efficiency in the home, and facilitate increased levels of remote working.

Having successfully completed the Survey and Design phase of the project, 3,403 Meath premises in the Navan deployment area are now under construction to have high-speed fibre. Homes, businesses and farms in these areas will be ready to connect to the National Broadband Network.

Additionally, NBI crews have made substantial progress in north Meath with 1,383 premises in the Kingscourt deployment area having recently completed surveying work. These initial works pave the way for the next stage of deploying fibre on poles/ducts and includes the erection of poles, unblocking of ducts, and the insertion of sub duct into existing ducts, for the fibre to be installed.

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland said: “Our teams continue to work on the rollout plan and substantial progress has been made on works in Meath.

“We are confident that the rollout will continue to gather pace as our ability to move premises from the construction phase to the order phase ramps up. We are currently working closely with retail service providers, and other stakeholders, to connect homes in Meath. Minimum speeds of 500Mbps will be available.

“Our mission is to end the digital divide across the country. Digital connectivity is critical to many of our activities, and this new Fibre-to-the-Home network, will be a key enabler for the sustainability of local businesses and communities.”

Under the National Broadband Plan, 559,000 premises nationwide are included in the Intervention Area, which was established by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications to identify areas where commercial operators are not currently providing access to high-speed broadband or do not intend to.

NBI is encouraging people to check their eligibility and register for updates at www.nbi.ie to receive regular notifications related to their own premises as works progresses in their area.