National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company rolling out the National Broadband Plan, has made progress in connecting a number of islands to high-speed fibre broadband.
Residents of Clare Island in Co Mayo, Tory Island in Co Donegal and Bere and Dursey Islands in Co Cork can now place orders for broadband, with connections due to go live in later summer 2025.
The rollout will ensure that 552 premises across the islands have access to high-speed broadband, including 169 premises on Clare Island, 115 homes and businesses on Tory Island, 250 premises on Bere Island, and 18 premises on Dursey Ireland.
“At the heart of the National Broadband Plan is our mission to ensure that no community is left behind. This commitment includes remote and rural areas, as well as our island communities,” said Peter Hendrick, CEO of NBI.
“Islanders who connect to the NBI network will have access to the same quality, speeds and reliability that our network offers to anyone living on the mainland.
“Overall, we’re delivering this critical infrastructure to 27 islands, and we expect to make significant progress on the rollout to these communities across 2025.”
As a wholesale network operator, NBI does not sell fibre broadband directly to end users, and more than 70 internet providers offer broadband through the network.
The NBI infrastructure is live on 10 islands, including: Hare Island and Long Island off the coast of Cork; Turbot Island and Inishturk South Island off the coast of Galway; Inishlyre Island and Collanmore Island off the coast of Mayo; as well as Inishfree Island, Rutland Island, Eadarinis Island and Eighter Island off the coast of Donegal.
NBI has now passed 320,829 homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland to high-speed broadband with just over 110,043 now connected.
The average take-up rate of 34% 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.
“Residents on the islands can visit www.nbi.ie/buy to place an order with the broadband provider of their choice, or they can call our contact centre on 0818 624 624 to register for Eircode-specific updates on when the network will go live,” said Hendrick.