The National Ploughing Championships may be moving to Tullamore next year, but Ratheniska is a community that still has plenty of potential for growth. Last week at the event, SIRO – the ESB-Vodafone joint venture – announced that it has selected the Co Laois town as the location for their rural broadband pilot programme.

Rural broadband is a topic that Irish Country Living is keeping a close eye on as a good broadband network is essential to the future growth of rural Ireland.

Eircom has just rebranded its network and wholesale operations as Open eir. Running its next generation access (NGA) programme, it means houses in urban areas and rural areas, that are quite close to towns and cities, will be able to reach speeds of up to 1GB. A total of 1.9m homes and businesses across Ireland will avail of this by the end of 2016 as this process is currently underway thanks to a €1bn investment.

Competition heating up

Competition is clearly heating up. SIRO is also investing €450m in building their fibre-to-the-building broadband network, offering 1GB connectivity to 500,000 premises in 50 regional towns.

However, one third of the country – predominantly rural Ireland – will not benefit from any of that investment. You’re going deep into rural areas where the telecoms industry won’t invest on its own. So, the Government’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) has to step up to the mark.

The NBP intervention strategy was published earlier this summer and the consultation period closed two weeks ago. Next on the agenda is the public procurement process, where companies will tender for the contract. At this stage, it appears that companies planning to throw their hat into the ring include Eircom (Open eir), UPC, BT, Imagine, e-Net and SIRO.

Proving that a company can already deliver broadband in rural areas won’t go unnoticed in the tender process. While eircom proved it has what it takes by delivering a 1MB connection in Belcarra in Co Mayo, SIRO is also keen to show its capabilities with its recent launch in Ratheniska. Irish Country Living spoke to Stephen O’Connor, director of corporate affairs in SIRO at the National Ploughing Championships and asked if a new company has what it takes to deliver such a huge project?

“SIRO was launched in May of this year so, yes, we are relatively new, but it’s a joint 50:50 venture between two very established companies; ESB and Vodafone. We’re completely focused on delivering just one product – a 100% fibre optic broadband network.

“Fibre optic cables aren’t new to the ESB,” Stephen says, “The ESB has been using fibre optic cables for 15 years. However, they were only ever used for internal communications.”

“With SIRO, fibre broadband will be deployed on ESB’s existing overhead and underground infrastructure. Our focus at the moment isn’t the big cities. These already have a decent offering. We’ve started in regional areas: Cavan, Dundalk, Sligo, Castlebar, Clonmel. Last week, we also launched in Carrigaline, Co Cork.”

In the future, SIRO is building on the ESB’s infrastructure which has been completely rebuilt in the last 10 years. Every pole in the distribution system in the country has been replaced, totalling over two million homes.

Stephen adds: “Yes, we are a company starting from scratch. Eircom already has the established copper system – but that doesn’t compare to fibre. They are building the fibre network, as we are. We don’t have the headache of an old copper system and integrating a new system on top of that, we are focused on fibre and fibre only.”

The rural broadband pilot programme in Ratheniska wasn’t just chosen because of its connection to the Ploughing.

“We already have our own ESB telecoms connections with fibre on it that passes through the area, so we could take a spur off that and bring it into Ratheniska easily. ESB also has a training centre close by in Portlaoise, which is beneficial.”

Most importantly, it has been working well since its installation three weeks ago.

“We had a 1GB connection in our SIRO stand at the Ploughing where people could come in and test the speeds for themselves.”

“Within the village of Ratheniska, 17 premises have been connected to the SIRO network, including 14 homes, Ratheniska National School, the Community Hall and Park Ratheniska GAA club. One company that is really set to benefit is Penhouse Design, a design agency creating brands and marketing for print and web. Gillian Reidy, originally from Dublin, moved her business to the countryside location when she married Colm Fingleton, who farms in Ratheniska.

While he is out in the fields, she and her team corporate branding for companies such as Lily O’Brien’s.

“We need to send and receive a lot of very large files daily and since we got access to the 1GB broadband, this process is done now in an instant. Its speed is definitely making a difference to our responsiveness and its reliance is helping our peace of mind.” CL

>> Consumer rights

Distillery Set To Open Its Doors

It’s been a big year for William Grant & Sons Ltd, the family-owned distiller and owner of Tullamore DEW Irish Whiskey. The company is celebrating its first anniversary and production capabilities are set to double in 2016 with the addition of six new fermenters and two new pot stills. They have also announced that the Tullamore Distillery is set to open its doors to the public this autumn. The Ultimate Distillery Experience will give whiskey enthusiasts the chance to go behind the scenes. See www.tullamoredew.com.

Pumpkins hit the Tesco Shelves

The Ploughing is over, which means Halloween isn’t far off. So, in the coming week you’re going to see pumpkins hit the supermarket shelves in Tesco. Their range has been growing since mid-May and Tesco expects to sell over 100,000 pumpkins, with their Irish range sourced from Keeling’s grower Oisin O’Gradaigh outside Castlebellingham in Louth. When selecting a pumpkin, it’s best to select one that feels heavy for its size with a firm skin. They have quite tough skin so when preparing a pumpkin for cooking, it’s recommended to place it on a tea towel to keep it steady and then use a large strong knife to cut it in half. Once it’s cut in half, scoop out the seeds and cut into segments, which can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to one week. Perfect for Autumn cooking, it’s a versatile ingredient that works in soups, stews or even mashed up as a side dish. It takes approximately 30-40 minutes to bake or roast or 15-20 minutes to boil.