An Taoiseach Enda Kenny is making a significant broadband announcement in Castlebar later today.
The announcement relates to a new fibre network for Castlebar, which is set to benefit existing businesses and multinationals already working in the town and attract new businesses to locate there too.
The ‘metro’ fibre network will run through ducting to Main Street, the Mall, Mayo General Hospital, GMIT Mayo Campus and the industrial zone on the Breaffy Road.
Mr Kenny said it represents a “very important infrastructural project for Castlebar”.
The construction of the new network, which involves 7.5 kilometres of cable, is set to start in the coming weeks and businesses should start to see the benefits before the end of the year.
President of Castlebar Chamber of Commerce Sylvester Jennings warmly welcomed news of the metro network project.
“We have been lobbying for this infrastructure for some time so it is great to see it being put in place,” he said.
“This will provide high speed broadband to the business community and will not only support existing businesses to grow but will also add to Castlebar’s profile in attracting new industry to the county town,” said Mr Jennings.
The broadband announcement tomorrow is the first in a series of connectivity improvements coming down the track for Mayo.
Seperately, a new ‘fibre to the home’ project by Eircom has been trialled in Belcarra.
The new technology can deliver exceptionally high speeds of up to 1,000Mb/s to homes in rural areas.
