Eir 5G in Kerry by year end
THE rollout of 5G services by mobile operator Eir is expected to reach Kerry by the end of the year, but only in Tralee and Killarney
Eir announced last week the first phase of its 5G rollout which has seen the service introduced in ten cities and large towns from 100, so called, ‘cell sites’.
A further 100 cell sites are due to be set by Eir by the end of this year in 10 more towns including Tralee and Killarney.
Vodafone launched Ireland’s first 5G network in mid August but, as of yet, it is limited to a small number of areas in Dublin, Cork, Limerick,
Galway and Waterford. Vodafone has said its network will expand “over the coming months” but exact details of this expansion have not been revealed.
“Eir is transforming its mobile network and 5G will complement on-going upgrade and expansion of our 4G network, which will bring high voice and high-speed data coverage across more than 99% of the population of Ireland, allowing our customers to access high speed data services on the most expansive 4G mobile network in Ireland,” said the Eir network’s CEO Carolan Lennon.
Eir has said its network will offer connection speeds of over 1Gbps which, if functioning to its full capacity, would allow users download a high definition Blu-Ray quality movie in about two minutes.
When the service is rolled out in Kerry Eir said it will have a number of 5G Samsung and Huawei handsets, with prices starting from about €99, available for customers.
Eir’s 5G service will cost existing eir broadband customers €49.99 a month while new customers will have to pay a monthly fee of €59.99.
The network said that fee will include unlimited data (with a fair usage cap of 80GB); unlimited calls and texts; 100 international minutes and texts and access to a newly launched eir Sport App.