17,000 Kilkenny homes set to benefit from €71 million broadband investment
By COLIN BARTLEY
Kilkenny is set for a €71 million investment which will give 17,000 homes in the county the ability to connect to high -speed broadband.
This investment is part of the new National Broadband Plan, which the Government expects to complete sign off on, in the coming months.
The preferred bidder, National Broadband Ireland, was identified in May. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar recently stated he wished to have the contract signed off by mid-September. If the contracts are signed off at that point, the rollout can commence in Q4 2019.
The majority of the 540,000 premises nationally to benefit from the national broadband plan will be hooked up to the network within five years.
The plan will see 2,000 contractors connect 98% of premises in Ireland through 146,000 km of new optic fibre cable running through 15,000km of underground ducts. The €3 billion infrastructure project will be completed in seven years.
Communications Minister Richard Bruton said recently: ‘It is crucial that we move to sign the contract so that the one million people who today are without access, are not left behind.”
If Kilkenny is part of the first tranche of the project, the first homes in Kilkenny will be connected by early autumn next year.
