The National Broadband Plan (NBP), which aims to connect more than 54,000 farms upon completion in 2025, has said that more than 19,000 premises are now eligible to order broadband services on the new high-speed fibre broadband network.

These premises span the "first deployment" areas - Carrigaline, Galway city, Cavan Town, Limerick city and Ballinasloe - according to National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company responsible for the rollout.

NBI said it is working in 72 deployment areas across the country which will eventually connect more than 1.1 million people and more than 544,000 premises.

In addition, approximately 233,000 premises have already been surveyed nationwide and network designs for over 174,000 premises have been developed since the project commenced.

Surveying works involve physically walking the routes and documenting images, notes and measurements of the poles, cables and underground ducts in each area.

Over 92,000 premises are currently in the build phase of the project in 25 deployment areas. The build phase of the project includes the erection of poles, unblocking of ducts, and the insertion of sub-duct into existing ducts, for fibre to be installed.

David McCourt, chairman of National Broadband Ireland said: “In spite of the unprecedented disruption presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re working within the government’s guidelines to ensure that everyone can access high-speed broadband as quickly as possible.

Some 44 retail service providers (RSPs) have already signed up to sell services on the NBI network.

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