40,000 farms now able to access high-speed fibre broadband
National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering the government's National Broadband Plan (NBP), has announced that more than 40,000 farms can now access high-speed fibre broadband with over 17,000 already connected.
Take-up among farms stands at 42.5%, trending significantly higher than the national average of 35%.
In total, almost 65,000 farms will have access to high-speed fibre broadband through the National Broadband Plan.
This milestone comes as NBI recently announced that more than two thirds of the premises included in its rollout area have now been passed with over 367,000 homes, farms and businesses across the country now able to access high-speed fibre broadband.
To date, over 129,000 premises across the country have connected to the NBI Network, with take-up exceeding 60% in areas that were among the first to go live.
Chief executive officer (CEO), National Broadband Ireland, Peter Hendrick said: 'We're proud to see such strong adoption of high-speed broadband among the farming community.
'With two in every five farms connected to the NBI Network, the uptake reflects the growing importance of digital tools and services in modern farming.
'A high-speed fibre connection is now an everyday essential for farmers and farm families across Ireland.
'Access to fibre broadband unlocks limitless opportunities and allows farmers to adopt new technologies to increase productivity, profitability and sustainability,' he added.
The NBI representative said that rural communities should have access to the same benefits as urban areas – the same entertainment, work-from-home opportunities, and educational resources.
'We encourage farmers and everyone living in rural Ireland to check their Eircode on the NBI website and see if they can get connected today,' he continued.
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 or retail service providers (RSPs).
As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new fibre-to-the-home network available to all RSPs operating in their rollout area.
The National Broadband Ireland website is regularly updated to show estimated connection dates.
NBI will be responsible for the management of the new national broadband network for at least the next 25 years.
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