Gigabit rollout in Dublin
Some 50,000 homes and businesses in the city of Dublin and 100,000 premises in the wider area can now access gigabit broadband as part of €100m initiative to reach underserved areas.
We all want faster and more reliable internet connections, and full-fibre capacity is being swiftly rolled out across the UK and Ireland. ‘Fibre-to-the-Home’ (FTTH) directly connects a home or workplace to the network using optical fibre, meaning there are none of the bottlenecks that can hamper connections.
Dublin at night, photo by Saturday_sun
In 2015, ESB and Vodafone established joint venture SIRO to rollout a new, €1bn full-fibre broadband network across Ireland. It had made considerable progress since then: nearly 550,000 homes and businesses have now been connected, in more than 135 cities and towns. The aim is to reach 700,000 premises by 2026.
The SIRO network now reaches across the Dublin’s four local authority areas, which includes more than 30 suburban towns. But some vicinities within this region still lacked FTTH broadband services and infrastructure. The €100m initiative specifically targeted this shortfall.
To progress rollout across Dublin, SIRO has worked in close collaboration with the specialist teams in the four local authorities: the telecoms unit at Dublin City Council and broadband officers at Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council.
Jamie Cudden, Smart City Programme Manager at Dublin City Council, says: ‘Investments like this from Siro support our ambition to futureproof Dublin ensuring that we can take advantage of new and emerging technology trends. When we established our telecoms unit in 2022, we committed to work with the telecoms sector to help streamline and accelerate network rollout through better co-ordination and collaboration. The real winners here are communities across Dublin who will have access to world class digital infrastructure and choice of providers.’
Daithí de Róiste, Lord Mayor of Dublin, adds: ‘This is a really positive investment for Dublin, and I am delighted that the city council have been able to support Siro in the delivery of this essential digital infrastructure particularly in areas such as East Wall, Docklands. Kimmage and Crumlin. We need to ensure that all of our communities have access to high-quality broadband services and are not left behind as the adoption of new technologies and digital services continue to accelerate.’
John Keaney, CEO of Siro, says: ‘The presumption that our cities already enjoy universal full fibre connectivity can be inaccurate. Poor broadband can exist in areas of our cities and its suburbs, just as much as it can be found more remote areas.
‘Yet, futureproofed and reliable fibre connectivity is key to the economic life of our capital city and in all the communities which make up its constituent parts.
‘Siro is rolling out our network across Dublin, city and county, because a real need exists to address existing connectivity blackspots. By now reaching areas underserved by fibre-to-the-home broadband, such as the Docklands, East Wall or Crumlin and Walkinstown, we are striving to ensure these areas have the broadband infrastructure essential for the future wider social and economic development of the city.’
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