SIRO, a joint venture launched in May 2015 between ESB and Vodafone which is investing €450m in building a FFTP broadband network, said the towns - Carlow, Drogheda, Ennis, Mullingar, Newbridge and Portlaoise - will be included in the network, which SIRO aims to reach 50 towns nationwide.
By the end of 2016, SIRO aims to have construction work underway in these towns and additionally in Carrigaline, Castlebar, Cavan, Dundalk, Letterkenny, Ratheniska, Skibbereen, Sligo, Tralee, Westport and Wexford. SIRO says some of these towns will be live on the network, which is using ESB’s existing infrastructure, by the end of the year.
“It is our ambition to become Ireland’s new national telecoms infrastructure," SIRO said in a statement. "We have plans for a second phase which covers over 300 smaller towns and we are shortlisted for the government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) which aims to deliver high speed access to all citizens by 2020."
