ESB/Vodafone joint venture Siro has announced a strategic tie-up with Sky Ireland, the State's largest pay-TV operator, to provide high-speed broadband to customers in 2018.
The deal is seen as a major coup for Siro, which is going head-to-head with market incumbent Eir in a race to link up regional towns to fibre broadband, which offers the fastest internet connection speeds.
Using the ESB’s electricity infrastructure, the company, which was set up in 2015, is investing €450 million in the rollout of its network across 50 towns, encompassing 500,000 potential customers.
Its fibre-to-the-home network contrasts with most of Ireland’s existing broadband infrastructure, which utilises outmoded copper at various points and will facilitate the growing demand for Sky’s on-demand TV content services, which require higher broadband bandwidth.
Having established a broadband subscriber base of 180,000 customers since entering the Irish broadband market in 2013, Sky Ireland is now the fastest growing broadband provider in the State, having added the most customers in the current period.
Skyrocketing
"Consumer interest in on-demand content is skyrocketing, which means that households need more powerful broadband connectivity if they want to enjoy the future of entertainment," Siro chief executive Sean Atkinson said.
“Siro is building the only 100 per cent fibre-optic network in Ireland, which means that people using our services are guaranteed the best broadband experience in the country as there is nothing faster than the speed of light,” he said.
JD Buckley, managing director, Sky Ireland, said: “This deal with Siro reflects our continued commitment to investment in infrastructure in Ireland and will mean our customers will enjoy ultra-fast gigabit connectivity which will transform the way they use Sky and consume content.
“We want our customers to have the fastest available speeds to the widest possible footprint across Ireland and Siro are an important strategic partner in helping us realise that goal,” he added.
