Mullingar Roll Out
Mullingar Is The Latest Town Powered By SIRO’s 100% Fibre Optic Gigabit Broadband Network
SIRO, the ESB and Vodafone joint venture delivering 100% Fibre-to-the-Building broadband network, today outlined its plans to roll-out its 1 Gigabit (1,000Mbps) broadband network in Mullingar at a public event today at Bloomfield House Hotel, in association with Mullingar Chamber of Commerce.
SIRO’s rollout has already been completed in the College Hill, Ardleigh, Grange, Patrick Street, St Bridget’s Terrace, Glenmore Wood, and Ballinderry areas, with construction expected to finish in December 2017. When construction is completed approximately 8,000 homes and business premises in Mullingar will have access to SIRO’s 100% fibre-optic broadband network.
Services are now live in Mullingar, with SIRO’s Gigabit connectivity allowing residents and businesses to avail of broadband that is three times faster than the best service available in Dublin (350 Mbps) and 10 times more powerful than the fastest average internet speed in Ireland. As SIRO is an open access wholesale provider, customers will purchase broadband services from one of SIRO’s retail partners such as Vodafone.
Opening the event Cllr John Shaw, Cathaoirleach, Westmeath County Council said:
“Mullingar is already an attractive location for business and industry with its close proximity to Dublin, excellent road network, and accessibility to some of the best third level institutions in the country. This welcome investment by SIRO into the town’s broadband infrastructure will propel Mullingar to 1 Gigabit status, enhancing the operations of existing businesses to optimum level, and will also attract new business and industry to Mullingar.”
Tom Hyland, President, Mullingar Chamber of Commerce added: “SIRO coming to Mullingar is welcomed by the Chambers and its members.
“The availability of a 100% fibre optic gigabit broadband network will bring economic benefits for businesses that will allow them to grow and innovate.”
Suzanne Tracy, Operations Director of SIRO, said:
“SIRO’s network which is 100% fibre optic, without the need for copper, will deliver a one Gigabit connection directly to the homes or businesses in Mullingar. This will have a transformational effect on Mullingar’s digital environment. Mullingar businesses will be able to compete, nationally and internationally, and homes will experience benefits in terms of education and remote working. Having the same Gigabit connectivity as a city like Hong Kong will make SIRO central to Mullingar’s communications future, and we look forward to completing our rollout by the end of the year”
SIRO’s Fibre-to-the-Building technology is recognised as the gold standard for broadband connectivity internationally and is 100% fibre-optic, with no copper at any point to slow it down. This means that the internet experience of Mullingar will be transformed, catapulting the town into the international leagues for broadband connectivity creating a platform for future economic development in the region.
Using the existing ESB network, SIRO delivers fibre optic cables all the way to the building. This technology, known as Fibre-to-the-Building, has no copper connections at any point to slow down the network and delivers 1 Gigabit speeds. For context, downloading a high definition (HD) film of 4 GB (Gigabytes) with a 10 Mbps connection takes an hour – with SIRO it takes 30 seconds.
SIRO is offered on an open-access basis to all telecoms retailers in Ireland. SIRO has formed partnerships with Vodafone, BT, enet, Carnsore Broadband, Digiweb, Vodafone, Rocket Broadband and WestNet, with more retailers expected to come on board as the company drives competition in the wholesale broadband market.
The SIRO network now covers 100,000 premises, with services now live or under construction in 25 towns across the country including Dundalk, Carrigaline, Sligo, Letterkenny, Tralee, Cavan, Wexford, Skibbereen, Drogheda, Mullingar, Portlaoise, Ennis, Castlebar, Westport, Limerick, Newbridge, Carlow, Swords, Balbriggan, Bray, Greystones, Athlone, Killarney, Shannon and Mallow.