Siro announces appointment of John Keaney as CEO

7 Nov 2018

John Keaney. Image: Naoise Culhane

John Keaney has been appointed as CEO of Siro, replacing outgoing CEO Sean Atkinson.

Siro has today (7 November) announced that John Keaney has been appointed as CEO. Outgoing CEO Sean Atkinson will take up a new role as head of ESB International following his four-year term at the helm of Siro.

Keaney has served as financial director at Siro since 2014. His time at the firm was preceded by a 10-year period with Vodafone, where he served in a variety of roles, including as head of financial operations and financial controller.

Prior to his time at Vodafone, Keaney was a senior manager at Deloitte and he earned an economics degree from London School of Economics and Political Science.

Siro connecting Irish towns

Keaney said: “Siro is transforming over 50 regional towns and is helping to enable Ireland’s gigabit society. Our network has now passed 200,000 homes and is already having a positive impact on the lives of people in the 30 towns where our services are live.”

The company’s 1Gbps broadband network is now live in 30 towns across the country, with 10 retailers offering connections to 200,000 homes and businesses, offered on an open access basis to all telecoms retailers in Ireland.

Siro has formed partnerships with 10 operators – Vodafone, Digiweb, Sky, BT, Carnsore Broadband, Rocket Broadband, Kerry Broadband, Enet, Airwire and Westnet – with more retailers expected to come on board.

Using the existing ESB network, Siro delivers fibre optic cables all the way to the building, with no copper connections at any point.

NBP hangs in the balance

The company was one of the three bidders shortlisted for the National Broadband Plan (NBP) contract, but pulled out of the project last year.

The Government is awaiting a report from auditor Peter Smyth to determine the integrity of the NBP process, while opposition parties have called for alternatives.

Editor of Siliconrepublic.com, John Kennedy, recently outlined what’s at stake in terms of policy and the future for a connected Ireland.

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

editorial@siliconrepublic.com