15 December 2021
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

www.nbi.ie has a search tool to enable the public to check whether their premises is within the rollout area

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company rolling out the new high speed fibre broadband network under the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) have in recent days commenced surveying works in the Kanturk Area of North Cork.

NBI contractors have been on the ground across the country for over 12 months now and over 280,000 premises nationwide have been surveyed to date. This involves physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area. These vital survey works enable “Fibre-to-the-Home” network designs to be completed for each of the 544,000 plus premises in the Intervention Area, as identified by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication (DECC).

In the Kanturk Deployment Area, there are a number of villages and rural areas included in the Intervention Area (IA), which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools. Areas include all parts of Kanturk town not currently served by Fibre and villages and rural areas around Lismire, Castlemagner, Banteer, Lombardstown, Glantane, Liscarroll, Lisgriffin, Kilbrin, Cecilstown, Ballyclough, Nadd, Lyre, Laharn, Kilcorney, Derrinagree, Gortroe and Boherbue.

You can check out if your house is included in the current survey by clicking on the following link and entering your Eircode: https://nbi.ie/where-are-we-working/

Under the National Broadband Plan, Cork will see an investment of €314M 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 in North Cork already with areas such as Millstreet, Ballydaly, Cullen, Knocknagree, Ballydesmond & Kiskeam already surveyed.

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.

All NBI contractors will also carry official ID cards and essential worker letters and have received training on adhering to all Covid 19 guidelines. They will have vehicles, PPE and signage with both their own, and NBI logos.

In advance of the Fibre-to-the-Home roll out, the NBP provides for the delivery of Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) nationwide. Over 200 of these sites are now ‘live’ and have both internal and external broadband access. These facilities – which include sports clubs, community centres and tourist sites – will provide free public access to high-speed internet in the rollout area.

These 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 /bcp-map/. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in North Cork that are connected are Laharn Heritage Centre, Aubane Community Centre, Ballydaly Community Hall, Glash Community Centre. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also being connected for educational access as part of the NBP.

Fine Gael Councillor John Paul O’Shea

Welcoming the commencement of surveying in the Kanturk Deployment Area, local Fine Gael Councillor John Paul O’Shea said

“It is great to see the NBI teams on the ground and they have made substantial progress already over last week or so in the Kanturk area. Good quality fibre broadband is crucial for the area and it is something I am pressing to get done and made active as soon as possible.

“Survey and designs are an important part of mapping out how every home, farm and business will be connected, and they provide the blueprint for how the NBI fibre is laid. The BCPs are also a key milestone in delivering access to high-speed internet in the Intervention Area, and I am delighted to see these being connected for access – internally and externally – right across North Cork.”

NBI’s website www.nbi.ie has a search tool to enable the public to check whether their premises is within the rollout area, and to show indicative dates for areas being surveyed. There is also a facility to register for updates on this. NBI’s contact centre can be reached at 0818 624 624 (lo-call) or contactus@nbi.ie