Enet connects Kilkenny as Ireland’s first fibre city

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Pictured left is Martin Costelloe, Kilkenny Chamber, John Mulholland, Kilkenny County, John Mulholland, Kilkenny County Council, John Hurley, Kilkenny Chamber, Mary McCabe, Enet, John Regan, Ripplecom and Kevin Hanley, Kilkenny County Council pictured at the launch of Kilkenny's Fibre to Business. (Image: Pat Moore)

2 March 2015

Enet, the open access network operator, will invest €500,000 in building what is described as “Ireland’s first fibre city” in Kilkenny, as it implements a new broadband infrastructure.

The network development will allow service providers, such as Ripplecom, to offer 250Mbs broadband connectivity to local businesses.

According to the providers, the new Fibre To The Business (FTTB) network will provide broadband services that are “free from bandwidth bottlenecks and allowing local businesses to take full advantage of digital markets and exploit online opportunities”.

Enet says that the fibredirect service is a “genuine 100% fibre service, with fibre optic cables being delivered directly into businesses”. The company points out that while other fibre services connect to a local telecoms exchange or cabinet, they often still rely on older copper networks to reach the premises, resulting in a significant loss of performance. With fibredirect, says enet, bandwidth will be delivered directly to individual premises, meaning the broadband speeds advertised will be guaranteed rather than the ‘up to’ claims made by service providers over copper networks.

Construction of the fibredirect network will commence at the beginning of March, and should be completed by the end of June, said enet

“The prospect of Kilkenny becoming the first fibre optic City in Ireland is hugely exciting and will reaffirm our city as a preferred location in which to base businesses going into the future,” said John Hurley, CEO, Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce:

“The team at enet are thrilled to be making this investment,” said Conal Henry, CEO, enet, “making Kilkenny the first truly fibre-enabled city in Ireland, following on from our success in Claremorris, Loughrea and Ardee. By building a fibre network directly into every business, we are doing something no one else has done before. This fibre network completely replaces the out-of-date copper network which has reached its end of life — every business can finally get broadband from a broadband network!”

“The support of the local authority, as well as the Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce, has been critical in driving us towards this successful outcome. We will be looking to replicate this level of support in other locations to facilitate further enet fibredirect rollouts.”

“We are very proud of our involvement in the delivery of this world-class fibre service to Kilkenny,” said Commenting on the initiative, John McDonnell, CEO, Ripplecom, “which will provide local businesses with high performance bandwidth, high speed Internet, voice and video. The bandwidth offered by Ripplecom will be delivered via fibre optic cables directly into each premises meaning that broadband speeds advertised will be guaranteed, resulting in significant improvements in download and upload speeds for users. The cost savings, efficiency gains and commercial opportunities this superfast fibre network will create is extremely positive news for the economic growth of the region and all at Ripplecom are delighted to be involved.”

Enet said that the pilot towns for the fibredirect service are  Claremorris, Loughrea, Ardee.

 

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