Left out in the National Broadband Plan, two villages in Co Kilkenny decided to set up their own FTTP network led by local volunteers.
A small rural community in Ireland with limited access to good network connectivity has come together to set up its very own fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband network from scratch.
Around 750 homes and businesses in a 3.4 sq km area near the border between Kilkenny, Waterford and Tipperary will soon have high-speed internet access of more than 150Mbps thanks to a local voluntary initiative called Broadband 4 Our Community (B4OC).
Until now, hundreds of families in the community have struggled with speeds between 1Mbps and 6Mbps, making work-from-home tasks such as conference calls and video streaming challenging.
Consisting of a board of enthusiastic local volunteers, B4OC is a not-for-profit based around the Kilkenny villages of Piltown and Fiddown. Inspired by similar projects in the UK and bringing together a range of skills and expertise, the group started a first-of-its-kind project in Ireland.
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Declan Rice (KLP), Jim O’Brien and Paul Walsh (B4OC)