Galway Bay fm newsroom:
Three Galway locations will be some of the first nationwide to benefit from the National Broadband Plan.
The plan aims to bring fibre broadband to over 38,000 premises in Galway, primarily in rural areas.
Galway, Limerick and Cork have been identified as three of the first counties nationwide where work on the National Broadband Plan will start.
Galway city, Ballinasloe and Gort have been designated as regional hubs for the roll out of the new fibre network.
Over the next year, NBI will survey each area to identify the best way to connect premises to high speed fibre broadband.
It's hoped that homes and businesses in the townlands surrounding Galway City will begin to be connected by the end of next year, while Ballinasloe and Gort will begin the process in 2021.
Plans presented to a recent meeting of the Galway County Council show the new network will be expanded from Galway City through Moycullen to Oughterard, before being rolled out into Connemara.
Similarly, Ballinasloe and Gort will see surrounding townlands and villages connected to the fibre network over the coming two years.
In the meantime, work has already begun on communal broadband hubs around the county.
The BCP or Broadband Connection Points are communal work spaces in rural Ireland with access to high speed Internet.
20 broadband hubs have been selected by Galway’s local authorities in order to provide access to high speed broadband in advance of the full fibre network being built.
