The Irish Government has issued an update on the National Broadband Plan (NBP), with the intervention area now including more than 544,000 premises across the country.

The National Broadband Ireland (NBI) roll-out programme has already provided direct and indirect employment for around 800 people to date, with NBI directly employing around 160 NBI workers. NBI sub-contractors are working to survey fibre routes, with more than 136,000 premises across 26 counties surveyed as of 23 November. This is ahead of the company's full-year target for 2020 of 120,000 premises surveyed. 

Deployment of the FTTH network has started in the counties of Cork, Galway, Cavan and Limerick, as well as in the Ballinasloe area. Almost 8,000 premises are targeted to be passed with fibre by the end of the first year of the NBP contract (January 2021). A pilot test and trial phase for connections will be run for connections in Carrigaline, Co Cork, in December 2020 and January 2021; with ISPs able to provide this service directly to customers from early-2021. 

NBI is also rolling out Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) to provide communities with free public high-speed broadband connectivity ahead of the main NBP deployment. To date, it has installed equipment at 201 locations to support BCPs for public Wi-Fi access, with Vodafone Ireland enabling these buildings with indoor/outdoor Wi-Fi under a contract with the Department of Rural & Community Development. Vodafone has connected 59 BCPs as of mid-November.