High speed broadband on the way to 16,000 premises in Tipp

Sixteen thousand premises across Tipperary are set to avail of high speed fibre optic broadband within 12 months.

The roll out has already gotten underway in Clonmel while the Nenagh works are set to begin on October first.

SIRO is a joint venture between ESB and Vodafone, which aims to boost Ireland’s bandwith by facilitating fibre capable broadband, enabling download speeds of one gigabit across the country.

An E.U. initiative is aiming to have all member states at a one gigabit download level by the year 2025.

The Nenagh installation will be set up across three clusters over the next year and will see the introduction of high speed internet for much of the town.

Following a presentation by SIRO at the Nenagh municipal district, Councillor John Carroll felt that the new partnership would be very beneficial for the area.

A shared sentiment after the presentation was that the provision of high speed internet was essential for the local economy.

However, Cllr Joe Hannigan pointed out that while this was a positive development for Nenagh, rural Ireland was being left behind

The neglect of rural Ireland in the plans was a contentious issue, with Cllr Micaheal O’Meara demanding state intervention on the matter.

The Rathcabbin Cllr called on Minister for Communications Denis Naughten to take steps for the provision of broadband for rural areas.

The works in Nenagh aim to be completed by this time next year.