ESB Telecoms and Siro to deploy high-speed ethernet for Irish telcos

21 Sep 2020

Image: © thexfilephoto/Stock.adobe.com

ESB Telecoms and Siro have partnered to install high-speed ethernet services for Irish operators in 13 urban centres.

Under a new agreement, Irish telecoms operators will be able to access ethernet infrastructure with bandwidth speeds of between 100Mbps and 1Gbps. ESB Telecoms and Siro announced the partnership today (21 September), which will see it deploy the end-to-end network service – called the Ethernet Tail Extension – in 13 urban centres across the island of Ireland.

As well as high-speed connectivity, the new product aims to allow telecom operators to transfer data from their customers’ premises back to a data centre offsite. This, they said, means the operators do not have to pay for additional infrastructure development or separate backhaul solutions.

The Ethernet Tail Extension could also guarantee gigabit fibre speeds in both directions for cloud connectivity, video streams and business continuity.

“Connectivity is the nervous system of the country and Covid-19 has further emphasised the need for reliable fibre-to-the-premises broadband,” said Siro’s chief commercial officer, Ronan Whelan.

“Our partnership with ESB Telecoms will enable us to further support the digital agenda in Ireland, ensuring businesses can perform to the best of their ability without archaic copper technology slowing them down.”

Faster broadband deployment

Managing director of ESB Telecoms, Rory McGowan, added: “Irish businesses are adapting their IT environments faster than ever before in order to address the challenges and opportunities created by an increasingly digital world.

“These organisations require super reliable and ultrafast connections from their telecoms service providers to transmit the mission-critical data that is becoming their lifeblood.”

Last month it was reported that ESB could be asked by the Government to help speed up the deployment of the National Broadband Plan (NBP) by giving infrastructure access to National Broadband Ireland (NBI). This followed calls by the former Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton, TD, to roll the plan out in five years instead of seven.

David McCourt, whose investment firm Granahan McCourt leads the consortium behind NBI, said on a recent podcast that it might be possible to complete the NBP in five years.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com