Eircom is to go live with 1Gbps fibre in September, it emerged after Pure Telecom became the first operator to sign up for the wholesale service.
A €20m deal agreed between Eircom Wholesale and Pure Telecom will see Pure’s customers access 100Mbps broadband and also become the first to access Eircom’s 1Gbps fibre-to-the-home service when it launches in September.
The partnership means Pure Telecom customers can connect to Eircom Wholesale’s high-speed fibre broadband, which offers speeds of up to 100Mbps to 1.2 million homes and businesses nationwide, a figure which represents approximately 50pc of the total premises in Ireland.
This will rise to 70pc by 2016, and 80pc by 2020, by which time 35pc of all premises will have broadband speeds of 1Gbps.
Pure Telecom’s customers will be amongst the first to access Eircom Wholesale’s 1Gbps ‘Fibre to the Home’ (FTTH) service when it launches later this year.
Fibre up the nation
Paul Connell, director, Pure Telecom, Peter Clarke, director of sales, marketing, international and customer service, Eircom Wholesale and Alan McGonnell, director, Pure Telecom
“With 1,000Mbps (1Gbps) speeds launching in September, Pure’s customers will have access to the fastest broadband speeds available here, ensuring they remain at the cutting edge of broadband developments in Ireland,” Peter Clarke, director of sales, marketing and customer services at Eircom Wholesale said.
Eircom recently announced plans to extend access to high-speed fibre broadband in rural Ireland by extending its fibre network from 1.6 million homes and businesses to 1.9 million nationwide premises.
The additional 300,000 homes and businesses are spread across 1,070 communities in all 26 counties and include 300 communities not currently served with high-speed broadband.
Speeds of up to 1Gbps will be available to these additional 300,000 premises through the use of end-to-end fibre to the home technology.
“Our industry is changing,” said Paul Connell, director of Pure Telecom. “Our business customers need faster broadband so they can compete competitively both domestically and internationally.
“Furthermore, consumer demands are increasing. Smartphones, Netflix and social media are among the tools that are redefining the way people communicate and resetting needs and expectations, and not just for city dwellers.”
Irish road image via Shutterstock
