Mayo poised for broadband transformation

A €10 million investment in the delivery of a state-of-the-art broadband network to Mayo is set to get underway.

The towns of Castlebar and Westport will be the first to benefit from the long-awaited rollout of the high-speed service, with Ballina, Ballinrobe and Claremorris to follow shortly afterwards.

And, by the middle of 2016, over 30,000 homes and businesses across the county will be able to access the network being put in place by Eircom.

It has been confirmed that on Friday, May 1, business orientated broadband lines will be launched in the county town.

Ten days later, on May 11, the village of Belcarra is to become the first rural location in Ireland to trial fibre to the home (FTTH) technology. This ‘end to end’ fibre technology provides broadband speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second (1,000 megabits). In total, the trial passes 150 premises on a ribbon route which includes Belcarra National School, Manulla National School, Belcarra Community Centre and Balla Mart.

Later in the summer, Castlebar and Westport are expected to be officially named as the first towns to get the new super-fast home broadband service.

Welcoming the investment, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told The Connaught Telegraph: “High-speed broadband connectivity is vital to business and modern life in Mayo, and the government is working hard to ensure the investment takes place. With the right infrastructure, many thousands of people and businesses will benefit.

“We are hoping to have further announcements in the coming weeks that will be key to helping small businesses in rural towns.”