ESB and Vodafone have announced the creation of 60 new high-tech roles as the duo’s joint venture company SIRO revealed details of the first towns to receive its 100pc Fibre-to-the-Building broadband.
Last October the European Commission gave the duo the go-ahead to build a €450m 100pc fibre network in Ireland.
The ESB and Vodafone joint venture, unnamed at the time, was approved under the EU Merger Regulation.
The 100pc fibre-to-the-building network will offer broadband speeds from 200Mbps to 1,000Mbps (or 1Gbps), initially reaching 500,000 premises in 50 towns in phase one while creating those 60 tech jobs.
In recent months, Vodafone completed fibre-to-the-premises technical trials with ESB on 300 homes in Cavan, achieving speeds of 940Mbps.
Sean Atkinson, CEO of SIRO, said: “We are fortunate to have two parents in the form of ESB and Vodafone… Our 100pc fibre optic broadband service will help Ireland’s regional areas compete more effectively for investment and jobs.”
Some of the roles already advertised are technical services manager, network operations senior engineer, operations account manager, fibre optic passive design lead, fibre optic passive design engineer, digital marketing executive, account manager, IT operations support and QA manager. There will also be 200 construction jobs as part of SIRO’s creation.
Broadband is about to get better, fast. And it’s not just SIRO getting involved.
Earlier this week, nestled in a scenic valley in the hills of Mayo, the digital revolution that has swept Belcarra was revealed.
Eircom demoed what could happen in a community when it is connected to high-speed fibre broadband, with Belcarra receiving the 1Gbps fibre, the immediately-obvious benefits were both economic and educational.
Siro said that the first 10 towns to recieve their ultra-fast internet – Cavan, Dundalk, Westport, Castlebar, Sligo, Carrigaline, Tralee, Navan, Letterkenny and Wexford – will go live in the autumn.
IT engineer working image, via Shutterstock
