Munterconnaught residents at the award ceremony celebrating their achievement. Image via Philip Fitzpatrick Photography
The Cavan town of Munterconnaught will soon be getting some much-needed ultra-fast broadband as part of Eir’s Fibre to the Home (FTTH) competition worth €250,000.
Munterconnaught was one of 36 communities in Ireland that entered the competition, which opened last June and asked communities to outline how having fibre broadband would positively impact their lives, their businesses and their homes, given that they had no access to high-speed broadband.
The competition follows Eir’s trialling of its FTTH service in Belcarra, Co Mayo seven months ago, which now provides businesses and residents of the town with broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps.
Among the judging panel was Silicon Republic’s CEO and editor-at-large Ann O’Dea, and members from the Irish Farming Association (IFA) and the Farmers’ Journal.
Four other communities were highlighted for their entries, including Allihies in Cork, Portmagee in Kerry, and Ogonelloe and Mountshannon in Clare, who will now all be included in the Open Eir phase one development plan of the plan’s extension, beginning in 2017 with completion due in 2020.
Speaking of Munterconnaught’s success, Eir’s CEO Richard Moat said: “It was great to see the scale of engagement across the community with the local GAA club; Heritage Society; Foróige; Knocktemple National School and the Parents’ Association all contributing to the successful entry.
“We are confident that Munterconnaught will enjoy the same benefits that Belcarra does and we are looking forward to joining them on their high-speed broadband journey.”
