Irish open access wholesale broadband provider SIRO – a joint venture between Vodafone and utility group ESB – has formed a partnership with Sky Ireland to expand delivery of high speed fibre services to consumers in 2018. Utilising the existing ESB network, SIRO’s fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network currently passes over 110,000 premises, with services now live or under construction in 25 towns across the country, supporting internet speeds of up to 1Gbps, with a goal to reach 500,000 premises in 51 towns by end-2018.
JD Buckley, Managing Director of 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.’
Sky Ireland entered the broadband market in 2013 and has built up an internet subscriber base of roughly 180,000 to date.