Broadband firm expands into north Kerry

CAHERSIVEEN-BASED IVERTEC ROLLING OUT ITS SERVICE TO 9,000 PROPERTIES

SOUTH Kerry-based broadband firm Ivertec are on the cusp of a major expansion of their service into the northern half of the county, the firm said this week.

From Friday next, June 1, the Cahersiveen-based company will begin rolling out what they say will be high-speed broadband – up to 100 Mbps – to eight areas in North Kerry: Ballybunion, Asdee, Ballylongford, Lisselton, Ballyduff, Listowel, Lixnaw, and Causeway. It’s a move that will see the company in a position to offer the ‘WiFibre’ broadband it specialises in to 9,000 properties, amid claims it is ‘leap-frogging’ the schedule of the Government’s National Broadband Plan.

It comes as Ivertech invests more in its Cahersiveen base.

“We will be investing €1.2 million in our new broadband infrastructure and a new state-of-theart operations centre in Caherciveen, in doing so increasing our workforce from 11 employees to 16 over the next two years,” Business Development Manager Gerard O’Sullivan said.

He added that high-speed broadband had helped reverse rural decline in areas such as Skibbereen, and pointed to a study which revealed the economic impact of high-speed internet services was worth €11.3 million to the remote town.

“Local businesses around Skibbereen have grown as a result of the connectivity, with businesspeople relocating from abroad, all contributing to the local economy and to the sense of confidence in the town,” he said. “In a similar vein, we expect the same for rural areas of Kerry.”

Ivertec’s Network Engineer Michael Murphy explained that the service works wirelessly from source:

“Our new WiFibre service requires no phone line, which means rural areas can now experience fibre-like speeds over a wireless connection, ideal for those living in areas where no fibre cables exist.

“The first area in Kerry to benefit from Ivertec’s WiFibre was Valentia Island, an area earmarked by the state for a minimum speed of 30 Mbps under the National Broadband Plan. We’re leap-frogging ahead of the Government’s National Broadband Plan; our roll-out on Valentia has given homes and businesses on the island speeds of up to 100 Mbps.”

Ivertec was founded in 1993 and currently serves over 14,000 premises in the county. It launched its broadband service in south Kerry in 2007 and began the roll-out of WiFibre just this year, providing rural Kerry homes and businesses with ‘super-fast’ broadband speeds of up to 100 Mbps.