THE CEO of National Broadband Ireland (NBI) has responded to criticism from a local Green Party representative who said the rollout of the plan in rural parts of the county is not progressing quickly enough.

Last month, Tralee Green Party representative Anluan Dunne said homes in The Black Valley were “last on the list” for the infrastructure and he had asked Minister Ossian Smyth to consider funding accelerated deployment of high-speed broadband in Kerry.

The CEO of NBI, Peter Hendrick has defended the pace of the rollout in Kerry. “NBI is actively working in County Kerry to deliver our new high-speed broadband network. Over 40% of our project is live in Kerry already and almost 11,300 properties can place orders to connect to the NBI network today,” he said.

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“This includes over 3,300 premises in or around Tralee, 1,500 in the Ballyheigue deployment area and almost 900 in Castlegregory, while over 4,000 premises in Listowel have completed the surveying phase and will be ready to connect next year. In fact, across Kerry over 2,100 premises, or 22%, are already connected.

NBI will ultimately be serving over 27,000 premises in County Kerry with a total Government investment of €107 million in the county under the National Broadband Plan. We are currently building new network infrastructure to serve over 2,300 additional properties in Kerry, and we anticipate these joining the network in the first half of next year.”

Mr Hendrick also addressed the complexities associated with delivering the plan in the Black Valley area.

“When it comes to the remote Black Valley, nestled in the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks, this area is designated as a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and rightly so,” he said.

“For those reasons this is very challenging terrain for network construction. There is additional complexity to rolling out our network here, but NBI is determined to ensure access to high-speed broadband is delivered for this area, which has been poorly served with utilities historically.”

“NBI is currently working with Kerry County Council, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC), which is the sponsoring department of the National Broadband Plan, to determine how best we can deliver for the Black Valley. It is not a question of ‘if we will’, but rather ‘how we will’.

The National Broadband Plan is going to place Ireland among the best-connected countries in Europe. There is a digital revolution coming, and rural Kerry will not be left behind,” he added.

More information on the NBP project and the progress NBI has made in Kerry to date is available on their website and Mr Hendrick is encouraging any local residents in the Black Valley, or anywhere else in County Kerry, to register their Eircode on www.NBI.ie/EOI.

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