High-speed connectivity on the way as almost 3,100 Donegal homes, farms and businesses near Moville and Kilcar see build works commence 

Over 20,300 homes, businesses and farms in Donegal can avail of a high-speed connection today 

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the new future-proofed, high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) today announced that construction is underway to deliver high-speed broadband to almost 3,100 homes, farms and businesses in the deployment areas of Moville and Kilcar in Co Donegal.  

This includes over 1,600 premises in the Moville deployment area, covering the rural surrounds of Moville and Redcastle. Network build works are also underway for almost 1,500 premises in the Kilcar deployment area, including the rural communities of Kilcar and Killybegs.  

34,000 premises in Co Donegal 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, Co Donegal will receive €128m of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan. 

Having successfully completed the survey and design phase of the project, 1,626 Donegal premises in the Moville deployment area are under construction to have high-speed fibre broadband network, and are due to be connected by the end of summer 2025. Meanwhile, 1,461 premises in the Kilcar deployment are due to be connected by the end of next year.  

The National Broadband Ireland 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. 

Works have already been completed in other parts of Donegal, such as the rural surrounds of Bunbeg and Letterkenny. There is a total of 20,342 premises that can now order or pre-order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county, with 3,993 premises already connected to the network. NBI is calling on people to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect. 

NBI has now passed over 350,000 homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland with over 120,000 of these now connected to high-speed broadband. The average take-up rate of 33% is well ahead of projections and international comparisons and surpasses 50% in areas of the country where the network has been live for 18 months. 

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 the developments in Donegal. High-speed fibre broadband is now available to order for over 20,300 including: 

  • almost 3,000 near Bunbeg,
  • almost 2,000 near Buncrana,
  • over 300 near Bundoran,
  • almost 2,800 near Carndonagh,
  • over 2,800 near Creeslough,
  • almost 1,600 near Fintown,
  • almost 3,300 near Letterkenny,
  • almost 3,000 near St Johnstown, and
  • over 1,800 near Tamney.

“We are working hard on the ground to progress other areas of the county through engineering survey and design phases. We are encouraging Donegal residents to visit the NBI website to check their Eircode and sign up for updates. 

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

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 70 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the NBI™ network and 68 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 NBI™ network, visit NBI.ie/buy. 

The National Broadband Ireland 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.   

Keep up to Speed!   

NBI is encouraging people to check their eligibility and register for updates at www.nbi.ie to receive regular notifications related to their own premises as works progress 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 www.nbi.ie/bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Donegal include Glenveagh National Park, Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair and Malin Head. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are now connected for educational access as part of the NBP.