The government minister responsible for the roll-out of high-speed broadband across the country announced earlier this week that an additional 300,000 premises across Ireland will be able to access the service within 90 weeks.
Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten, announced the plan on Tuesday but what does it mean for you and your area?
Check the map to see if where your area falls. In short, if you’re in a blue area it’s a good thing, light blue and things are looking up but if your area is amber then you’ve a serious broadband issue.
- Blue shows the areas where commercial operators are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high-speed access;
- Light blue represents rural locations where Eir is planning to deliver high-speed access by the end of 2018;
- Amber represents the areas that will require state intervention and are the subject of the current, lengthy procurement process.
Speaking at a recent Regional Skills Network forum, David Walsh-Kemmis from Ballykilcavan Brewery said that the three barriers to doing business in rural Laois were “broadband, broadband and broadband”.
Minister Naughten
“Today is a good day for rural Ireland,” Minister Naughten said on Tuesday. “The agreement that I have signed with Eir means that one house every minute of every working day will get ‘fibre-to-the-door’ high-speed broadband – over the next 90 weeks.
300,000 more rural premises will have access to high-speed quality broadband – that’s an extra 500 houses every day.
“Over the last four years, commercial operators have invested over €2.5 billion upgrading telecoms networks and services. This is a clear indication that the state’s commitment to broadband is driving investment from the commercial sector.
“With the finalisation of the broadband map, one of the key uncertainties in the procurement process has now been removed.
“In 2016, only 52% of premises in Ireland had access to high-speed broadband. With this latest development, the Government is promising that 77% of premises will have access by the end of 2018 – and the majority of the remaining premises by the end of 2020.”
You can check the map here and access an area by area list of Laois here.
