Over 15,500 premises in Carlow covered by high-speed fibre broadband

15,596 homes and businesses in Carlow now have access to the network following an investment of more than €9 million by eir in the county. On completion, 22,816 premises in Carlow will be fibre enabled.

eir has announced it has passed a record one million homes and businesses across Ireland with its new high-speed fibre-to-the-home (FFTH) network, meaning that Ireland is on its way to becoming one of the most fibre-connected countries in the world.

The announcement was made at an industry event this week at The Exo, Dublin’s highest office building, attended by Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Oliver Loomes, eir CEO, and David McRedmond, eir chairman.

In Carlow, the roll-out programme is already 68% complete, giving local communities and businesses access to internet speeds of up to 10gbps, roughly 100 times faster than the average connection.

Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications, Dep. Eamon Ryan, said: "We are witnessing a double-tracked industrial revolution of our time, a revolution in renewable energy along with a revolution in digitalisation. Both of these changing landscapes are fundamentally interconnected. At a macro level, if we are to stay ahead of the energy and renewables curve, we need to ensure that technology firms, energy investors, off-shore wind companies know that Ireland is a modern, digitally advanced country to locate in. At a more micro level, high-speed internet access is increasingly important to be able run businesses or farms, to utilise further smart technologies to make those homes and businesses more energy efficient, to facilitate working remotely or to study from home in any part of the country, for example.

"The Government's commitment to providing high-speed broadband to every premise in Ireland by 2028 is well on schedule. The National Broadband Plan is designed to reach the hardest to reach places. In order to ensure nationwide connectivity, we see that it works best in partnership with the commercial sector. I congratulate eir on leading the way to meeting the goals of the National Digital Strategy, exceeding their own targets in the process."