Over 1,000 homes and businesses on the Aran Islands will soon be logging onto their high speed broadband, as National Broadband Ireland, the company rolling out the National Broadband Plan, has announced that surveying works are to commence on all three in the coming weeks.

Peter Hendrick, Chief Executive Officer of National Broadband Ireland, confirmed that NBI teams would be on the ground on Inis Mór, Inis Oirr and Inis Meáin in the coming weeks to commence engineering surveys.

“NBI’s mission is to ensure that no community is left behind under the National Broadband Plan, no matter how rural or remote their location; and this obviously includes our offshore islands,” he said.

“We are very proud that we will provide connectivity to the islands as part of our work, and I am pleased to say that the Aran islands are now advancing towards high-speed broadband infrastructure for well over 1,000 homes and businesses.

“This planning work is a crucial step that informs the detailed network design and determines the locations for essential network equipment,” he explained.

Once the surveys are complete, NBI will proceed to the detailed design phase. This phase confirms existing infrastructure and identifies any additional requirements, such as power and the necessary footprint for building the network.

“Our planners and surveyors will collaborate with the Local Authority, relevant stakeholders and island residents at every step of the way,” said Mr Hendrick.

“Once the planning and design phases are complete, we will move into construction and ultimately provide access to high-speed broadband with minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second,” he added.

The NBI infrastructure is already live on ten islands including Turbot and Inishturk South off the coast of Galway, and surveying works recently took place on Inishbofin.

With those works are now commencing on the Aran Islands, that leaves works pending for three more – Clare Island off the coast of Mayo; and Arranmore Island and Tory Island off the coast of Donegal.

Pictured: NBI teams already at work on the Aran Islands.