Eircom has signed an initial contract with Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei to construct its 1Gbps fibre network for 66 communities by 2016.

Overall, Eircom plans to spend €1.5bn on upgrading its infrastructure to reach 1.6m homes with fibre broadband. This includes a new plan to increase fibre broadband speeds to 1Gbps in 66 towns through fibre to the home.

The equipment is capable of delivering even faster speeds beyond 1Gbps as demand emerges.

Eircom said that customers will be able to order fibre services offering speeds of up to 1Gbps by the end of August 2015.

“This is another important milestone in the journey to bring high-speed broadband to Ireland,” explained John Shine, group managing director of Eircom Networks.

“By using Huawei equipment, Eircom will be able to offer the fastest broadband speeds in Ireland in the coming months. We see customer demand for data continue to grow at a rapid pace.

“By deploying FTTH technology we will be in a position to meet and exceed those growing data demands and expectations with a suite of products that offers truly world class broadband speeds.”

To 1Gbps and beyond

Huawei will deliver the latest optical line terminals (OLTs) and optical network terminals (ONTs) that will support broadband speeds up to 1Gbps.

In 2012, Huawei was selected as the equipment supplier for Eircom’s fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology that underpins current broadband speeds of up to 100Mbps that is already available to 1.1 million homes and businesses across Ireland.

“We all live in a digital age and we know connectivity has never been more important,” said Jeff Wang, president of Huawei Access Network Product Line.

“This programme is another step towards helping to build a better connected Ireland. Huawei is happy to be playing its part in bringing superfast broadband speeds to these communities and we look forward to working with Eircom to deliver on this exciting programme with our innovative solutions.”

Fibre image, via Shutterstock