eir agrees deal with KN Circet for next stage in its €500m fixed network investment programme

eir has today announced the next step in its €500m fixed network investment programme, agreeing a deal with KN Circet to build the Optical Distribution Network (ODN) for the rollout of high-speed broadband to 1.4 million premises. KN Circet will be responsible for the end-to-end roll-out of the fibre network, including every town in Ireland with more than 1,000 premises; delivering a network capable of speeds up to 10 Gbps. Together with eir’s team, this major project will support up to 1,000 jobs in design and network construction across Ireland.

CEO of eir, Carolan Lennon, said: “I am delighted to partner with KN Circet on the roll-out of eir’s urban FTTH network, as part of our €1 billion capital investment programme over the next five years. KN Circet has been a major partner to eir for over 12 years and in that time, we have developed a close working relationship. It has been a major contractor on the roll-out of eir’s rural FTTH network which by June of this year will have passed over 335,000 premises. With the signing of this agreement, I’m confident that together, we will successfully deliver Ireland’s best urban FTTH network for the benefit of all our customers”.

KN Circet’s Deputy CEO, Donagh Kelly, commented: “KN Circet has been a leading provider to the telecommunications, transport infrastructure and power sectors in Ireland, the UK and internationally, since 1975”. We have worked closely with eir for many years and I’m delighted that we will now partner with them on the urban FTTH roll-out, especially given our recent merger with Circet, France’s leading telecommunications services company, which gives us even greater scope to provide best-in-class services to the telecoms industry in Ireland”.