SIRO’s Fibre Broadband Lights Up Killarney with More Than 5,000 Homes and Businesses Now Live

We have now passed 16,000 homes and businesses as part of our Kerry fibre broadband roll out program. When launched in 2015, Kerry was one of the first counties to receive SIRO’s 100% Fibre To-The-Premise broadband.

To date, SIRO has invested €10.2M in bringing its’ fibre broadband network to Kerry towns including Tralee, Castleisland and Killarney.

Killarney, one of SIRO’s Gigabit towns, now has 5,000 premises passed with fibre broadband on SIRO’s network, as we complete the first phase of our roll out in the Kingdom.

SIRO’s enterprise product, providing equal upload and download speeds, is particularly popular with many businesses in the town availing of this best-in-class fibre connectivity.

The Killarney Oak’s Hotel (‘the Oaks’), situated on the outskirts of the town, is just one such business benefitting directly from SIRO’s reliable broadband connection.  The hotel, a family-owned business has been open for more than 20 years, catering to a wide demographic from young families to grandparents. The Oaks is also an award-winning wedding destination hotel, with couples from as far off as Australia choosing the hotel for their special day.

The Oak has 70 double guest bedrooms, but with its’ wedding, restaurant and bar facilitates it has the capacity (outside of current COVID-19 restrictions) to host many more, particularly during peak wedding and summer holiday periods. This made the hotel’s need for high speed and reliable broadband a priority, shaping their decision to switch to SIRO’s 100% fibre broadband network.

Commenting on the progress of the Kerry roll out, SIRO’s Chief Commercial Officer, Ronan Whelan said: “We are very pleased with the progress of SIRO’s roll out in Killarney and the county. Killarney was one of SIRO’s first gigabit towns to benefit from SIRO’s best-in-class connectivity. Now, to see Kerry homes and businesses being supported by our broadband network, and throughout the pandemic, underlines to us the continued importance of our mission to bring high quality fibre broadband to regional towns across Ireland.

“Killarney and Kerry are the jewel in the crown of the Irish tourism and hospitality sectors, with the pre-Covid value of the industry worth over half a billion euro to the county.  While it’s been an incredibly tough year for these sectors, reliable connectivity has given a lifeline to businesses within it enabling many to pivot to new ways of working and trading, which our broadband network has supported.

“As Ireland begins its’ journey to recovery, connectivity will grow even more in importance. Getting the message out that high speed reliable broadband is available in towns like Killarney is key to business bounce back in the months ahead.

“Businesses like the Killarney Oaks with customers booking or doing virtual tours of the hotel months in advance of travelling, are further proof of the importance of a reliable fibre broadband connection”.

Eamonn Courtney, owner of the Killarney Oak’s Hotel, remarked: “As a family-owned business operating in Killarney for the past 20 years, we understand the significance of growing and evolving your business to keep up with the times.

“The pandemic brought its own challenges and we had to adjust our business accordingly. Having fibre broadband allowed us, even during lockdowns, to prepare the business for reopening and recovery into next year and beyond such as by continuing to handle bookings or enabling virtual wedding tours.

Now that we’ve begun to welcome guests back, the first question they always ask is “what’s the Wi-Fi password?” and we’re delighted that it’s now not something we worry about”, added Courtney.

SIRO for Business is live in Killarney with Vodafone, Viatel, Digiweb, Blacknight and PureTelecom offering 100% FTTP connectivity. Visit www.siro.ie/killarney for more information.