High speed connectivity on the way as almost 2,800 Sligo homes, farms and businesses near the Dromore West deployment area sees engineering survey works completed

Over 4,200 homes, businesses and farms in Sligo 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 engineering survey works for almost 2,800 Sligo premises in the Dromore West deployment area are now completed. This includes the rural surrounds of Dromore West, Easky and Skreen.

In Sligo, there are approximately 15,000 premises in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses, and schools. Under the National Broadband Plan, Sligo will see an investment of €59M 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.

NBI crews have made substantial progress near Dromore West, where 2,761 premises have recently completed engineering 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. 

Network build works are also underway in the Tubbercurry deployment area, where over 2,400 Sligo premises are due to be connected to high-speed fibre broadband in early next year.

There are 4,231 homes, businesses, and farms in Co Sligo that can order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband on the NBI network with 1,725 connections made so far. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people living in Sligo to visit nbi.ie to sign up for updates on when they will be able to connect.

TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland Deployment said: “Our teams continue to work on the rollout plan and good progress has been made on surveying, design, and build works in Co Sligo.

“We’re confident that the rollout will continue to gather pace as we look to connect thousands more homes and businesses. We know that people want access to high-speed broadband and our goal is to deliver that as quickly as possible.

“The rollout of Broadband Connection Points is also key to delivering access to high-speed internet in the Intervention Area, and we’re delighted sites are being connected right across Sligo in places like Coolaney Community Centre, Eastern Harps GAA Club and Killavil Community Centre.

“There are over 4,200 homes, businesses and farms ready to connect in rural areas across Co Sligo, including over 2,400 surrounding Sligo town and over 1,300 near Castlegarren. We would encourage people living in those areas to visit nbi.ie to see if they can place an order a high-speed connection on the NBI network.”

National Broadband Ireland contractors have been on the ground across the country and over 279,211 premises nationwide can order or pre-order broadband on the NBI network so far.

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 Sligo include Sooey Community Hall, Banada and Cartron Community Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also now connected for educational access as part of the NBP.