Government signs off National Broadband Plan, 17,000 Kilkenny homes to get connected

The Government has just signed off on the €3 billion National Broadband Plan contract it hopes will bring high-speed broadband to the entire country.

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.

With the contracts, signed it is hoped work on the National Broadband Plan could begin as soon as January 2020.

The preferred bidder, National Broadband Ireland, was identified in May, and today the Government signed off on contracts at its weekly cabinet meeting, held in Wicklow.

The signing of the papers comes just a week after the European Commission approved the plan and granted state aid for the project.

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.

If Kilkenny is part of the first tranche of the project, the first homes will be connected by early winter next year.