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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NATIONAL Broadband Ireland (NBI) today announced that construction has commenced to deliver high-speed broadband to almost 3,000 premises in the Kilgarvan and Castlegregory deployment areas and almost 1,500 premises in the Ballyheigue deployment area.

Customers there will soon be able to order or pre-order a high-speed fibre broadband connection on its network.  NBI is the company rolling out the new high speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP)

In Kerry, there are approximately 27,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools.

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Under the National Broadband Plan, Kerry will see an investment of €107M 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.

There are 1,498 Kerry homes, businesses and farms in the Ballyheigue deployment area that will soon be able to join the National Broadband Ireland network in the coming months.

Having successfully completed the survey and design phase of the project, 2,082 Kerry premises in the Kilgarvan deployment area are now under construction to have high-speed fibre delivered and a further 858 premises in the Castlegregory deployment area of the county also have build works underway. Both areas will be ready to connect to National Broadband Ireland’s network later this year.

Works have already been completed in other parts of Kerry and there are 6,466 premises that are available to order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband in the Killarney and Tralee Deployment Areas, with 1,593 connections already made to the network.

National Broadband Ireland is calling on people to visit www.nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect.

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NATIONAL Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the new future-proofed, high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) on behalf of the Government, has announced that the first premises in the Tralee Deployment Area have been successfully connected.

Up to 27,213 premises in County Kerry are included in the State’s Intervention Area, which will see NBI deliver minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second to homes, businesses, farms and schools.

As the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification, the county will receive €107 million of Government investment under the NBP.

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As a wholesale network operator, NBI does not sell fibre broadband directly to end users, rather it enables services from a range of broadband providers or Retail Service Providers (RSPs).

Aidan O’Dowd, one of the first customers in the Tralee Deployment Area to be connected to the NBI network said: “Myself and my family were delighted for our home to be connected to high-speed broadband by NBI. It has been a significant positive development for us all. It has also allowed our family to experience a variety of advantages including leisure activities such as streaming.”

Brian Looney, Head of Digital and Broadband Officer for Kerry County Council, said: “Kerry County Council welcomes NBI’s delivery of fibre infrastructure in the intervention areas of County Kerry. We are delighted that the first wave of local people and businesses in the Tralee Deployment Area can now benefit from a connection to high-speed broadband via the National Broadband Plan. This development will bring a variety of new and exciting opportunities to people in the area and we look forward to this connectivity rolling out county-wide.”

NATIONAL Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the National Broadband Plan (NBP) on behalf of the Government, will host a pop-up information event at Garvey’s SuperValu in Tralee on Thursday, September 9 and Friday September 10, with the events taking place from 10am to 4pm each day.

These upcoming events aim to give even more people an opportunity to learn about the NBP, when high-speed fibre broadband is coming to Tralee and how they can get connected.

The NBI team will be on-hand to register people for future updates on the rollout in their area.

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Peter Hendrick, CEO of National Broadband Ireland said, “National Broadband Ireland is excited about the opportunity to engage directly with the people of Tralee and give them information about when high-speed broadband will be available, let them know how they can connect to the NBI network and how they can register for progress updates specific to their Eircode.”

NBI currently has construction underway to bring fibre to 3,167 premises in the townlands in the Tralee Intervention Area, which includes Ballyconnell, Brackhill, Clahane, Dromin, Killeagh, Lismore and Rockfield among others, all of which are already eligible to order services on the new high-speed fibre broadband network.

Once these premises are available to order these customers can choose their broadband services from a retail service provider (RSPs) of their choice.

This is expected to bring significant benefits directly to consumers and businesses where competition between RSPs will ensure quality bundled packages offer choice around voice, broadband, TV and mobile at competitive prices.

In advance of the Fibre-to-the-Home roll out, the NBP provides for the delivery of Broadband Connection Points nationwide.

These facilities – which include sports clubs, community centres and tourist sites – will provide free public access to high-speed internet in the rollout area.

There are ten Broadband Connection Points in Kerry, eight of which have already been connected, including Bonane Community Centre, Kells Railway Station Community Space, Inch Community Centre, Tureencahill Community Centre and Valentia Transatlantic Cable Station.

In total, there are 26,905 premises in the Intervention Area (IA) in County Kerry, which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools.

This equates to 30% of all premises in the county. Under the National Broadband Plan, Kerry will see an investment of €107M in the new high speed fibre network. NBI is encouraging people to keep-up-to-date with Eircode specific updates at https://nbi.ie/eoi/.