High-Speed Broadband Now Available on Sherkin and Cape Clear Islands Under National Broadband Plan

National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company rolling out the National Broadband Plan (NBP) has announced that residents on Sherkin and Cape Clear Islands off the coast of Co Cork can now avail of NBI’s high-speed fibre broadband.

In total, 280 premises on Sherkin and Cape Clear Islands can access high-speed broadband on the NBI™ network. 

Those interested in ordering broadband or finding out more information on when they will be able to connect can call the NBI contact centre on 0818 624 624 or visit www.nbi.ie.

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer of National Broadband Ireland, said: 

“At NBI, we are steadfast in our mission to ensure that no community is left behind. This is true for all remote and rural areas across Ireland, including our island communities. 

We are proud to deliver high-speed broadband infrastructure to residents of Sherkin Island and Cape Clear Island through the National Broadband Plan. These communities will have access to the same quality, speeds and reliability that our network offers to anyone living on the mainland. 

With over 70 different internet providers offering broadband services on the NBI™ network, 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.”  

82,000 premises in Co Cork are included in the State’s Intervention Area, which will see NBI deliver minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second to homes, businesses, farms, and schools. As the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification, Co Cork will receive €314M of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan.

Works have already been completed in other parts of Cork and there is a total of 40,345 premises that can now pre-order or order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county with 12,891 connections made so far.

The NBI infrastructure is already live on 14 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. (See further information in note below.)

NBI has now passed 337,440 homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland to high-speed broadband with just over 115,495 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.

As a wholesale network operator, NBI does not sell fibre broadband directly to end users, rather it enables services from a range of broadband providers. As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new Fibre-to-the-Home network available to all broadband providers operating in the Intervention Area. Some 73 RSPs have already signed up to sell services on the NBI™ network and 69 are certified as ready to start providing connections as of today. To see the retail broadband providers that are currently licensed to sell on the NBI™ network, visit NBI.ie/buy.

The National Broadband Ireland website is regularly updated to show estimated connection dates. Signing up to the NBI email notifications at https://nbi.ie/eoi/ is the easiest way to get the most up to date status of premises during the rollout and when premises will be ready for order.