Over 11,000 Wexford homes, farms and business can connect to high-speed broadband now.
National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company rolling out the National Broadband Plan (NBP) today (Friday) announced that almost 4,500 homes, farms and business in the Kiltealy area are now ready to connect to high-speed fibre to gain minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second, as the owner of Blackstairs Wellness said the service has “opened new doors” for her business.
Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland said: As the NBI rollout progresses across Wexford, connections to high-speed broadband are becoming available to rural towns and villages around the county. Alongside these 4,500 premises in west Wexford today, there are also almost 3,200 homes, farms and business near Rosslare which are now ready to connect as well as almost 3,800 in the Wexford Town area.
“The significant progress we are making means that more and more customers are experiencing the transformational power of minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second whether you are a family needing to work, study and access entertainment online all at the same time, or a business owner wanting to expand.
“Overall NBI, will be making a €88 million investment in Wexford, serving 23,000 premises. I encourage Wexford residents to visit nbi.ie and check their Eircode to find out if they are ready to connect and sign up for updates.”
Local business owner, Jane Kennedy, of Blackstairs Wellness in Kiltealy, who is connected to the NBI network through broadband provider, Aptus, said: “I’m newly connected to the NBI network with service provider, Aptus, which will open new doors for my business.
“My Pilates and Yoga Studio is an extension of my home, so fast, reliable broadband is essential for both my business and home life. I’ve always relied on my hotspot to upload Facebook posts and livestream classes. In Kiltealy, we’re in a bit of a blackspot for internet coverage and sites would often crash. It gets more and more frustrating.
“Nowadays, business owners are reliant on our online presence to attract and engage with customers. I’m looking forward to exploring the new ways to improve my website and social media content with the capabilities of high-speed fibre broadband.”
Fergal Kearney, Chief Executive Officer, of broadband provider, Aptus, said: “We are delighted to be bringing NBI fibre to homes and businesses, delivering high-speed broadband with consistent coverage at a reasonable price. We pride ourselves on customer service and the positive feedback we are receiving is a sure sign our partnership with NBI is delivering broadband access to our customers in the South East which is second-to-none.”
Under the National Broadband Plan, 569,000 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 or intending to provide access to high-speed broadband.
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). As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new Fibre-to-the-Home network available to all RSPs operating in the Intervention Area.
Some 62 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the National Broadband Ireland network and 51 are certified as ready to start providing connections as of today. To see the retail broadband providers that are currently licensed to sell on the National Broadband Ireland network, visit NBI.ie/buy.
National Broadband Ireland will ultimately connect 1.1 million people in every county, 65,000 farms, 44,000 small businesses and 679 schools.
Photo caption: National Broadband Ireland Communications Executive, Ross Shone, broadband customer, Jane Kennedy, and Aptus Accounts Administrator, Lindsey Benson.
