Donegal County Council is pleased to announce that it has signed a construction contract with Clarke Quarries Ltd for the construction phase of the Donegal Regional Broadband Programme.
The overall project involves the construction of 6 Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN’s) in the following towns:
- Bundoran
- Ballyshannon
- Donegal Town
- Ballybofey/Stranorlar
- Buncrana and
- Carndonagh
Construction work will commence immediately and will run until May 2007.
Metropolitan Area Networks comprise fibre optic cable and ducting below ground through the major streets of each town along with the building of a co-location facility to house telecommunication equipment for suppliers of broadband telecommunication services. The project will comprise the installation of over 60km of network across the county.
The MANs Programme (Phase 2) costing in excess of €11m is considered by Donegal County Council to be of strategic importance to the county. When completed it will provide a publicly owned state of the art fibre optic system which can be used by private service providers to deliver broadband and advanced telecommunication services to residents, business and public bodies in the towns and surrounding areas.
The provision of better information and communications technology services has been shown to contribute to economic growth by allowing existing businesses to improve productivity as well as improving external investment opportunities. Many other benefits will also accrue from this technology including educational, medical, and leisure applications for the people of the county.
Welcoming the project, the County’s Deputy Mayor, Cllr Brendan Byrne, stated that “this is a hugely significant project for Donegal. The provision of broadband and advanced telecommunications services are vital for the economic and social development of the County”.
County Manager, Michael McLoone, also expressed his delight at the project announcement. “This is a momentous day for the County. For many years the absence of competitive, resilient and reliable telecommunications services has been highlighted as an infrastructural deficit in Donegal. This project, together with a number of complimentary initiatives, will greatly assist in resolving that problem”.
Brian Boyle, Head of Information Systems, Donegal County Council, commented “The Council’s telecommunications mission is to utilise all available programmes to encourage the provision of advanced telecommunications and broadband services to all areas of the County, both urban and rural. The MAN’s programme has dual benefit in that the seven largest towns in the County will now have publicly owned state of the art networks which also offer the possibility to provide wireless broadband services to rural areas and town hinterlands”.
For further information on the project and to access regular updates on how work is proceeding in each town, please visit our website.