Vodafone targets Ireland, Portugal for new gigabit FTTH

Vodafone Group says that its SIRO joint venture with Irish utility ESB has begun fiber to the home (FTTH) connections in Carrigaline, Country Cork, Ireland. It also has announced that it will spend €125 million to expand its FTTH infrastructure in Portugal. Both networks will support gigabit FTTH services.

The SIRO effort will see €450 million spent through 2018 to deploy FTTH to 51 towns across Ireland. The joint venture expects the fiber-optic network infrastructure to pass as many as 500,000 homes and businesses. The first of these will be in Carrigaline, where 1,500 homes and businesses currently have access to FTTH services, SIRO asserts. Customers can sign up for the new LightSpeed Broadband service at introductory rates starting at €40 per month for the first six months of service. Internet service bundles will range from 350 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Vodafone also is offering a free modem and installation for all new connections and upgrades.

After the introductory period expires, the 350-Mbps service will cost €55 monthly and the 1-Gbps tier will cost €90. Voice services are available at an additional fee.

Towns next on the deployment list include Dundalk, Wexford, Sligo, Letterkenny, Tralee, and Cavan.

Meanwhile, in Portugal, Vodafone said it expects its new FTTH investment will expand its addressable footprint to 2.75 million homes and businesses by the end of 2016. The company says its network already connects 2.2 million Portuguese homes and businesses.

These two efforts complement a similar initiative in Spain (see "Vodafone, Orange partner for FTTH in Spain"). Vodafone says it also is in talks with Italian electrical utility Enel, which has announced plans to create a new infrastructure company to build a national open access FTTH network.

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