Enda Kenny Announces News for Castlebar

Westnet announced as SIRO’s third retail partner

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD has announced that construction is now underway on SIRO’s 100% fibre-optic broadband network in Castlebar and that services will become available from retail partners in December. Westnet, the Mayo based broadband provider, has also been unveiled as SIRO’s third retail partner. SIRO’s plans were presented at an event in Lough Lannagh Holiday Village, in association with Mayo County Council.

SIRO, the open-access broadband provider delivering Ireland’s first 100% fibre-optic broadband network to 50 towns nationwide, will enable Castlebar residents and businesses to take advantage of its Gigabit connectivity. This will transform the internet experience of SMEs, remote workers and consumers in Castlebar, putting the town on a par with international hubs like Tokyo and Hong Kong for broadband connectivity. For context, a high definition film (4GB) would take one hour to download with a 10mbps connection – with SIRO it will take 30 seconds.

Westnet will launch a number of 100% fibre optic broadband packages for both residential and business customers in Castlebar, with speeds ranging from 150 Megabits per second (Mbps) to one Gigabit per second (Gbps), with pricing from as little as €45 per month.

Welcoming this positive announcement for Castlebar, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said:

“SIRO’s investment will put Castlebar on par with broadband speeds found in major cities around the world. It is especially fitting that Castlebar has been chosen as one of the first ten towns in the country to benefit from being part of SIRO’s €450million network. There is a double benefit to Castlebar in that Westnet based on the Moneen Road, Castlebar, have also been announced as a retail partner for SIRO. This is the first SIRO roll-out in Mayo and I look forward to them progressing to their next roll-out in Westport. Once completed, this will serve as a real game changer for high-speed broadband in Castlebar and is part of a range of recent positive developments for the county town. These include the Fort Wayne Metals jobs announcement last week and the construction of the IDA’s €5 million Advance Facility on the Breaffy Road.”

Westnet CEO and co-founder Paul Cunnane commented:

“Having a good broadband service is essential in this day and age, so we are delighted to offer Castlebar residents and businesses broadband that is different and better than any other network in Ireland. As a regional broadband provider, it is fantastic to be able to avail of SIRO’s open access network as we can compete with any rival in the area. As our company was founded and is based in Mayo, our customers are guaranteed the best service as they are dealing with staff from the community, as well being safe in the knowledge that their money is being reinvested back into the local economy.”

Peter Hynes, Chief Executive, Mayo County Council, added:

“Mayo County Council welcomes this major step forward for Castlebar and will look forward to collaborating with SIRO and Westnet to ensure every business and home in Castlebar has access to state of the art digital communications in the very near future.”

Sean Atkinson, SIRO CEO, added:

“Our partnership with Westnet is another example of how we are actively driving competition in Ireland’s broadband market. This deal in particular illustrates how we will enable regional broadband providers to become fibre providers in their own right. We have had a lot of interest from retail partners as our 100% fibre optic broadband network offers a future proofed solution that will enable their customers to avail of next generation services.”

Using the existing ESB network, SIRO is delivered by fibre optic cables all the way to the building. This technology, known as Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB), has no copper connections at any point to slow down the network and delivers 1 Gigabit download and upload speeds. SIRO’s 100% fibre-to-the-building network is three times faster than the best service available in Dublin and over 10 times the best service available in the rest of Ireland.

By the end of 2016, services will be live or construction work will be underway in 17 towns across the country by the end of the year – Dundalk, Cavan, Carrigaline, Sligo, Letterkenny, Tralee, Wexford, Drogheda, Westport, Portlaoise, Castlebar, Mullingar, Newbridge, Ennis, Ratheniska, Carlow and Skibbereen.