SIRO, a joint venture between ESB and Vodafone, has announced that its gigabit broadband services are now available to 50,000 homes and businesses in Dublin city and to 100,000 premises across the wider Dublin area.
SIRO said the €100 million rollout is part of its strategy to reach areas underserved by fibre to the home broadband.
New areas covered include Dublin’s Docklands, East Wall, Walkinstown, Kimmage and Crumlin.
SIRO’s network is already established in other parts of the city such as Fairview, Raheny, Finglas, Artane and Coolock.
The company said its expanded network footprint across the four Dublin local authority areas now encompasses more than 30 suburban towns from Balbriggan in Fingal as far south as Shankill in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown.
SIRO said it plans to continue to build across Dublin city and county where other commercial opportunities exist.
“The presumption that our cities already enjoy universal full fibre connectivity can be inaccurate,” said John Keaney, SIRO Chief Executive.
“Poor broadband can exist in areas of our cities and its suburbs, just as much as it can be found in more remote areas,” he said.
“SIRO is rolling out our network across Dublin, city and county, because a real need exists to address existing connectivity blackspots,” Mr Keaney added.
The expansion in Dublin follows collaboration with Dublin City Council’s Telecoms Unit and with the broadband officers in the other three Dublin local authorities.
“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,” said Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste.
“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 continues to accelerate,” he said.
SIRO was formed in 2015 to roll out a new full fibre broadband network across Ireland.
To date, its services are available to almost 550,000 homes and businesses in over 135 towns and cities across the country.
SIRO said it is on track to reach 700,000 premises by 2026.
