National Broadband Ireland to host information events in Mullingar

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the National Broadband Plan (NBP) on behalf of the government, will host a pop-up information event at the Austin Friars Street car park in Mullingar on Friday October 22 and Saturday October 23, (10am-4pm).

The events aim to give even more people an opportunity to learn about the NBP, when high speed fibre broadband is coming to Mullingar and how they can get connected.

The NBI team will be on-hand to register people for future updates on the rollout in their area.

Peter Hendrick, CEO of National Broadband Ireland, said: “National Broadband Ireland is excited about the opportunity to engage directly with the people of Mullingar and give them information about when high-speed broadband will be available, let them know how they can connect to the NBI network and how they can register for progress updates specific to their Eircode.”

NBI currently has construction under way to take fibre to 4,109 premises in the townlands in the Mullingar Intervention Area, which includes Gaybrook, Monilea, Knockdrin, Ballinafid, Sonna, and Rathconrath among others, all of which are already eligible to order services on the new high-speed fibre broadband network.

Once these premises are available to order, customers can choose their broadband services from a retail service provider (RSPs) of their choice.

This is expected to bring significant benefits directly to consumers and businesses where competition between RSPs will ensure quality bundled packages offer choice around voice, broadband, TV and mobile at competitive prices.

In advance of the Fibre-to-the-Home roll out, the NBP provides for the delivery of Broadband Connection Points nationwide.

These facilities, which include sports clubs, community centres and tourist sites, will provide free public access to high-speed internet in the rollout area.

There are seven Broadband Connection Points in Westmeath, six of which have already been connected, including Castledaly Community Centre, Milltown Emper Community Centre, Clonkill Hurling Club, and Ballycomoyle GAA Club.

In total, there are 11,721 premises in the Intervention Area (IA) in County Westmeath, which includes homes, farms, commercial businesses and schools.

This equates to 26pc of all premises in the county.

Under the National Broadband Plan, Westmeath will get an investment of €46m in the new high speed fibre network. NBI is encouraging people to keep up to date with Eircode specific updates at https://nbi.ie/eoi/.