Improved broadband for our local villages
Plans for new broadband infrastructure in rural parts of north Tipperary - as well as enhanced communications services in Nenagh and Roscrea - are back on track following the disruption of Covid-19.
A total of 10 Broadband Connection Points (BCPs), including the community halls of Aglish, Killoscully and Curreeney, are to be live before the end of 2020, meaning these locations will be connected to high-speed broadband before the national rollout reaches the surrounding area. The halls are to be upgraded so that the BCPs can offer local people opportunities to avail of a number of online public services, such as processing CAP forms and applying for passports. They will also enable people to work remotely, study, keep in touch with family and friends, and trade online.
Meanwhile, physical telecommunications provider Cellnex Telecom is now actively progressing several locations for new telecoms infrastructure in north Tipperary. These include Portroe, Terryglass, Carrigahorig, Puckane, Dromineer, Nenagh North and Silvermines in the first phase of the plan, which is to be progressed this year.
Economic Development Officer Elaine Cullinan updated the July meeting of Nenagh Municipal District about the broadband progress. She added that Imagine broadband provider has a total of 43,760 premises in the county that are now covered for broadband connectivity, including 18,213 premises in rural areas. Last May a new section of Imagine's network was completed in the Nenagh Municipal District, covering 2,630 premises, 1,125 of which are in 'Amber' areas of identified need under the National Broadband Plan. High-speed broadband is now available in the villages and townlands of Puckane, Kevanstown, Coolbawn, Ballinderry, Terryglass, Portumna, Aglish, Borrisokane, Templemartin, Kildarby, Congar, Ardcroney and other townlands in between.
Also in her presentation, Ms Cullinan mentioned that SIRO (a joint venture of Vodafone and the ESB) is continuing to deploy fibre broadband with speeds of 1GB in the towns of Nenagh (3,700 premises), Roscrea (2,800) and Clonmel (8,693). Further investment is to be announced for the county later this year.
Tipperary Co Council recently completed the selection process for the provision of a fully-supported wifi network across 60 public access points at designated locations - including Nenagh and Roscrea - under the EU WiFi4EU Programme. The next stage of the process is to plan phased delivery with local businesses, subject to Covid-19 restrictions. As of July 6th, a number of public access points are live in Tipperary Town and delivering free wifi to members of the public; surveys have commenced in Nenagh town and the new wifi network will be live in the near future, Ms Cullinan reported.
Elsewhere, mobile network operators including Vodafone, Three, Eir and Imagine are continuing to build and upgrade networks throughout Tipperary, and this has led to significantly enhanced call and text reliability, 4G, 4G Plus and 3G services.
Councillors generally welcomed this progress and praised the work of the council's Broadband Officer, Simon Howe. Cllr Michael O'Meara (Ind) likened the rollout of fibre broadband in rural areas to the electrification of rural Ireland. He was frustrated at the length of time the rollout is taking and the absence of definite dates for its delivery. He said 4G access should be available to every household in the country.
Cllr John Carroll (FF) said the Covid-19 lockdown showed how dependent people are on good quality broadband. He welcomed the BCPs, which he envisaged would be a “social interaction hub” for local communities.
Cllr Joe Hannigan (Ind) said a lot more could be done with broadband infrastructure in rural areas, as did Cllr Phyll Bugler (FG) who claimed Eir speeds are “not at the races” in Ballina, while those availing of Imagine's service need to be in line with the mast on Tountinna for it to work.
Cllr Ger Darcy (FG) welcomed that more people are being enabled to work from their home parish, rather than having to relocate or commute to cities and towns. This process of enabling should continue and should be accommodated in the new Tipperary County Development Plan, he said.