Virgin Media CEO Tony Hanway and Siro CEO John Keaney. Image: Julien Behal
Using Siro’s infrastructure to expand, Virgin Media will see its network reach 70pc of premises in Ireland.
Virgin Media has signed a deal with broadband company Siro to extend its network to an additional 450,000 premises across Ireland.
Virgin already offers 1Gbps broadband to 1m Irish premises, but will now extend its reach to homes and businesses already enabled with Siro infrastructure.
Virgin Media recently struck the deal with Siro to become a wholesale customer on its fibre-to-the-home broadband network. Siro is a joint venture between ESB and Vodafone, founded in 2015 to roll out gigabit fibre broadband around Ireland.
The Virgin Media expansion is expected to further drive competition and enable ultrafast digital services by helping businesses and communities connect to Virgin’s broadband and digital TV service in more locations across Ireland.
“Today’s announcement increases our network reach to 70pc of all the premises in Ireland,” said Virgin Media CEO Tony Hanway.
“Our new partnership with Siro means we will be offering our market-leading ultrafast broadband and TV services to more Irish consumers and businesses than ever before.”
Siro is currently rolling out a 100pc fibre broadband network across 154 towns and cities in Ireland and aims to reach 770,000 premises by 2026. The company secured €620m in financing late last year to help with its roll-out plans.
There are currently 20 retailers that resell Siro services to residential and business customers. The broadband network operator has passed almost 450,000 homes and businesses to date, with a further 320,000 premises currently being rolled out.
In June, the company chose Galway as the first Irish city to benefit from an upgrade that will see businesses able to access 10-gigabit fibre connectivity – up to 10 times faster than before.
“Our objective is to deliver our world-class connectivity to communities and businesses across Ireland, while constantly bringing innovation to the broadband market,” said Siro CEO John Keaney.
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