New deal with SIRO brings Virgin’s reach with 1Gbps broadband to more than 1.4m premises nationwide.
Virgin Media has entered into a network deal with SIRO that will expand its Irish market reach to more than 450,000 SIRO-enabled premises across Ireland.
This will expand Virgin’s network reach to more than 1.4m reachable premises. The company already offers 1Gbps speeds to 1m premises on its own network.
“Today’s announcement increases our network reach to 70% of all the premises in Ireland”
Virgin Media CEO Tony Hanway said the company’s expansion via SIRO will further drive competition and enable ultrafast digital services by helping businesses and communities connect to Virgin’s broadband and digital TV service in many more locations across Ireland.
“At Virgin Media we are always pushing the boundaries of speed and service delivery for our customers. Today’s announcement increases our network reach to 70% of all the premises in Ireland. 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.”
Gigabit society
The move comes less than a year after SIRO – a joint venture between Vodafone and ESB – revealed a €620m next phase of the SIRO rollout that will see its services become available to 770,000 homes and businesses – more than 2.1m people – in 154 towns across Ireland. This came after the funding was secured through the European Investment Bank and a syndicate of Irish lenders.
The funding will also be invested in expanding the availability of SIRO’s services as well as upgrading all of its existing infrastructure to 2Gbps capacity – double the speed of most broadband services today.
“SIRO is an open access wholesaler rolling out full fibre broadband to 154 towns and 770,000 premises across Ireland,” said SIRO CEO John Keaney.
“Our objective is to deliver our world class connectivity to communities and businesses across Ireland, while constantly bringing innovation to the broadband market.”
Main image at top: Virgin Media Ireland CEO Tony Hanway with SIRO CEO John Keaney
