High speed fibre broadband on way to two Offaly towns
HOUSEHOLDS and businesses in Edenderry and Daingean can look forward to high speed broadband next year after two companies confirmed they will provide fibre connections.
Both Eir and SIRO will extend fibre to the town of Edenderry and Eir will also provide the connection in Daingean.
Residents and businesses in both towns hope the fibre rollout will end years of poor internet connectivity.
Confirming the news, Ray Bell, head of information technology with Offaly County Council said it had always been stated to him that the broadband in Edenderry is “terrible”.
“Good news story – there's fibre broadband coming to Edenderry by two different providers,” Mr Bell told councillors when they convened for their November Municipal District meeting.
Mr Bell said the council had been “working with Eir” for about 18 months to get an estimate of when they would provide fibre in Edenderry, as they had already done in Tullamore.
He expects work in Edenderry to begin in the next two weeks and the company are “probably going to be able to offer a fibre connection to businesses from around maybe March next year.”
Council officials had met the other broadband provider, SIRO, which is a link-up between Vodafone and ESB, prior to the streetscape work being done in Tullamore.
Since then, the council had been “pushing, pushing, pushing” in relation to Edenderry, said Mr Bell.
“The good news as well, SIRO are coming to Edenderry. There's going to be two separate fibre networks.”
Mr Bell said Daingean will be part of the next Eir fibre rollout.
He acknowledged that Edenderry businesses had been struggling and it was the case that in some instances credit card machines were not working.
“Fibre coming to Edenderry is a game changer, it's a game changer for the business and economic development.”
Councillors warmly welcomed the news, with Cllr Mark Hackett, Green Party, remarking: “Christmas came early.”
Fine Gael representative Cllr Noel Cribbin said he knew of two “very busy” businesses in Edenderry who had “brutal broadband” and it was “embarrassing” when a card payment could not be made on a handheld mobile till.
Asked by another Fine Gael member, Cllr Liam Quinn, if the fibre connections will be over or underground, Mr Bell explained that Eir overlay the new line on the existing copper wire network while SIRO use the ESB network.
Separately, Mr Bell said there are remote working hubs in Ballycommon and Kilclonfert and he said the poor mobile coverage in those areas will be addressed through the getconnected.ie community initiative run by Cellnex.
Cllr Eddie Fitzpatrick, Fianna Fail, said he had received a number of calls saying the mobile coverage in the Clonbullogue area remains poor – even after a new mast had been erected at the GAA ground.