Enet, Ireland’s largest open access telecoms network provider, has announced a significant €50m+ investment in fibre networks in multiple locations around Ireland. The expansion will see Enet’s fibre network connect major commercial, retail and industrial zones to increase the availability of high-capacity data transport for data centre connectivity, mobile data traffic and mission critical business traffic.

The investment will allow network operators and more business premises across the country to directly connect to Enet’s comprehensive telecommunications network.

Key focus areas include:

  • More than 45km of new fibre networks along the north and west of Dublin city, connecting all of the major business parks which are home to the various IDC’s, telehouses and multinational companies as well as 25 Dublin data centres. Enet is increasing fibre availability on the route, known as the T50, by 900% and will allow for 700 terabytes of traffic;
  • A new 10km network in North Dublin will provide fibre connections to 1000+ businesses while a new 4km backhaul and fibre infrastructure in West Dublin will provide the ability to connect a further 500+ businesses to a new high speed fibre network;
  • The installation of ‘Fibre To The Tower’ in a range of locations;
  • New locations are made available on Enet’s customer self-serve portal as they near completion.

Enet, which is part of the Speed Fibre Group, has already expanded its Dublin Metro network by more than 18.5km between January to May this year in areas such as Rathmines in Dublin 6 and Westmoreland Street in Dublin 2.

Enet operates the largest alternative wholesale telecoms network in Ireland, which comprises of more than 5,600 Km of fibre infrastructure, including the Irish State’s Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), proprietary metro networks, a unique dark fibre backhaul infrastructure, as well as one of the largest licensed wireless networks in the country.

Fully integrated nationwide telecommunications network

Taken together, Enet’s infrastructure creates a fully integrated nationwide telecommunications network that is truly open access in nature, enabling retail service providers and network operators to deliver world class data connectivity services to their customers throughout Ireland and enabling them to connect internationally.

Enet also offers carriers a range of fibre and wireless wholesale products and services, ranging from managed connectivity, infrastructure access, direct internet access and white label broadband.      

Peter McCarthy, group CEO of Speed Fibre Group, the home of Enet, said: “We’re delighted to announce this significant new investment as it allows us to deliver the highest quality network connections in crucial commercial areas in Ireland.

"By implementing critical fibre networks to provide high bandwidth telecommunications connectivity to our wholesale customers, we are supporting thousands of businesses and consumers across the country with the network capacity they need to grow and prosper. By further enabling our world-class telecommunications networks, this investment will also really cement Ireland’s position as an ideal location for businesses to operate in.”

International optical network connections

The announcement by Enet follows an agreement earlier this year with EXA Infrastructure to deliver international optical network connections between Dublin and data centres in Europe and across the North Atlantic.

The partnership covers more than 40 key priority data centres in Europe including Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Marseilles and Milan as well as a variety of North American routes on the EXA Infrastructure network, which is now the largest dedicated digital infrastructure platform connecting the two continents. Importantly, this service from Enet also facilitates the delivery of large volumes of data for data centre workloads, including ultra-high-definition video content, Internet of Things applications and the continual rise in the usage of cloud-based applications.

Enet is a part of Speed Fibre Group, the home of telecommunication businesses Enet and Magnet+, and is an Irish investment vehicle focused on telecoms infrastructure as well as communications service provision.

Speed Fibre Group entities have a combined annual turnover which now approaching €80m, with more than 200 staff and more than 11,000 customers. Offices are located in Limerick and Dublin. In addition, it boasts over one million people benefiting from wholesale networks – including mobile phone users, students, residential broadband users, public sector workers and staff in multinational organisations.

Speed Fibre Group is owned by the Irish Infrastructure Fund (IIF) which manages capital for more than 20 institutional investors, the majority of which are Irish pension funds, trusts, and investment managers. To date, the IIF controls more than €500m of investments across energy, telecoms, tourism and healthcare in Ireland.