High-speed connectivity on the way as over 3,700 Meath homes, farms and businesses near Kells, Carnaross and Kingscourt see build works commence

Almost 4,000 homes, businesses and farms in Meath can avail of a high-speed connection today

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 over 3,700 homes, farms and businesses in Co Meath. These build works include communities in the rural surrounds of Kells, Carnaross and along the Meath-Cavan border near Kingscourt.  

In Meath, there are approximately 21,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. Under the National Broadband Plan, Co Meath will see an investment of €76 million 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 phases of the project, 2,367 homes and businesses in National Broadband Ireland’s Carnaross deployment area and a further 1,357 Meath premises in its Kingscourt deployment area are now under construction to get high-speed fibre broadband. 

National Broadband Ireland’s website is regularly updated to show estimated connection dates. Signing up to the NBI email notifications at /eoi/ is the easiest way to get the most up to date status of premises during the rollout and when premises will be ready for order.

TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland Deployment said: “Our teams are working on the ground all over the country and considerable progress has been made on developments in Co Meath. High-speed fibre broadband is now available to order for over 2,800 homes and businesses near Duleek while 700 premises around Athboy are also able to connect to our network. 

“Construction works are now at an advanced stage for more than 3,300 homes and businesses in the Navan area, and 1,300 premises in Hill of Down. Both of these areas are set to be live for connection to National Broadband Ireland’s high-speed fibre network later this year. I am encouraging residents in these areas to visit the NBI.ie/eoi to sign up for updates.

“Our overarching goal is to improve digital connectivity across the country. With minimum internet speed of 500 megabits per second, this new Fibre-to-the-Home network will play a pivotal role in sustaining local businesses and communities.”

There are 4,182 premises which can now order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 1,071 already connected to the network. This is lower than the national average take-up rate and National Broadband Ireland is calling on people in Meath to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect.

Under the National Broadband Plan, 564,000 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. 

Keep up to Speed!  

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

Broadband Connection Points

In advance of the Fibre-to-the-Home rollout, the NBP provides for the delivery of Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) nationwide. 955 of these sites, including Public BCPs, are now ‘live’. Public BCPs – which include sports clubs, community centres and tourist sites – will provide free public access to high-speed internet in the rollout area. Other BCP categories include schools and marts.

BCPs will pave the way for rural communities to receive the benefits of broadband, from mobile working, e-learning and mobile banking, to digital tourism. You can view BCPs at nbi.ie/bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Meath include Meath GAA Centre of Excellence, Cortown GAA Club and Rathkenny Hall. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.