Huawei and Siro successfully test 10-gigabit broadband in Ireland

8 Dec 2017

From left: Joe McGrath, head of field engineering, Huawei; with Ronan Whelan, Siro commercial director. Image: Edelman

A successful trial is the result of an ongoing partnership between Siro and Huawei.

In an exciting development for the future of Irish broadband, Siro and Huawei have today (8 December) successfully tested a new technology known as XGS-PON on Siro’s 100pc fibre-optic network, delivering speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second.

The partnership between the two companies has been ongoing for some time now, with Huawei’s technology playing a key role in Siro’s plans to deliver super-speedy broadband to Irish users. Trials of the XGS-PON technology are continuing, and it could eventually appeal to businesses with massive data demands, such as tech multinationals or banks.

Rapid broadband speeds

Ronan Whelan, commercial director at Siro, said: “What is exciting about this trial is that these blistering fast speeds have been obtained using the exact same network that carries Siro’s 100pc fibre-optic broadband services to homes and businesses across Ireland.”

Whelan added that there would be very little extra work involved in terms of infrastructure development in order to see speeds like this across the country in the future. “All we are doing is changing the electronics at either end, with no further construction required. To put this capability into perspective, a 10-gigabit broadband connection would be able to transfer one gigabit of data in 0.8 seconds. That’s a movie downloaded in a second.”

Whelan was keen to emphasise the importance of fibre networks to the overall national broadband infrastructure. “We see the speed and reliability limitations of copper networks, and this trial proves how important fibre network roll-outs are to provide the platform for growth in Ireland. Siro can and will evolve towards multi-gigabit speeds as and when our customers demand it in the future. We are ready for it.”

Meeting Ireland’s connectivity needs

Jijay Shen, Huawei Ireland general manager, explained the new technology: “Huawei was first to industry with a commercial symmetric 10G-GPON solution, demonstrating the maturity of our symmetrical XGS-PON technology, which helps upgrade enterprise private networks to gigabit access networks.

“We are working with Siro to design a network that will meet the requirements of local communities and businesses, making sure that it’s not just the fastest speeds today, but that we can continue to lead the way and deliver the very best broadband connectivity to the people of Ireland in the future.”

Siro is delivered through fibre-optic cables that run alongside the existing ESB network, and it has so far passed more than 120,000 premises in 25 towns across Ireland.

Ellen Tannam was a journalist with Silicon Republic, covering all manner of business and tech subjects

editorial@siliconrepublic.com