Publication
Broadband Connection Points
From Department of Rural and Community Development
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Rural and Community Development
Published on
Last updated on
The roll-out of Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) to rural towns and villages is a key commitment under Our Rural Future , the government’s five year strategy for Rural Ireland.
BCPs are publicly accessible sites in areas that do not have adequate broadband services.
They are located in the likes of community centres, libraries, parish halls, and sports clubs.
BCPs provide onsite use of high-speed broadband by the public and support a range of digitally enabled services, such as remote work and study.
There are now more than 200 BCPs live and operational – details can be found at myconnectedcommunity.ie
When complete, the national network will include c.300 BCPs. It is expected that the network will complete later this year.
The Connected Communities Initiative is a collaborative effort involving the Department of Rural & Community Development, the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, NBI, Vodafone Ireland, c.300 community groups, libraries, sports clubs and small businesses, and 28 of the 31 Local Authorities (there are no BCPs in Cork City, Dublin City or Galway City Local Authority areas).
The typical BCP will receive a 150/30mbps service from NBI. This will be achieved via a temporary wireless broadband connection that will stay in place until the premises is passed by fibre services.
Vodafone Ireland supplies and supports the superfast WiFi at each site. The equipment used is enterprise grade standard and includes indoors and outdoors WiFi access points.
The Department of Rural and Community Development will support all BCPs for a minimum of 3 years.
A range of thematic pilot activities will launch over the coming months. These will test the use of BCPs under the following headings:
Learnings from these pilots will inform future funding, development activities and supports.