Eircom announces €20 million broadband upgrade project

A €20 million trial by Eircom will bring fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband into 10,000 homes and businesses in Sandyford, Dublin, and Wexford town.

FTTH is envisaged as the national upgrade for the Eircom broadband service with possible speeds of up to 150Mbps.

Eircom CEO Paul Donovan said yesterday that the entire cost of implementing FTTH to customers could cost anything between €1bn and €2.5bn as estimated by TIF.

“We’ve decided that there’s been a lot of talk about next-generation access and we’ve decided to work with the industry to take a lead in making this investment, by making sure from day one we provide incentives for other operators to join us,” Mr Donovan said of the new project.

The first customers will be connected to FTTH by spring 2011.