Virgin Media Business, Ireland’s fastest broadband provider, have today announced that it will switched on its first Free Public WiFi on Market Square, making Kildare the third town to benefit from Virgin Media’s investment in fibre broadband.
In what will be a major boost to the local economy, Virgin Media Business has invested in building a fibre rich network for businesses in the region, which will deliver the best WiFi experience across Ireland’s fastest broadband network, connecting 2,000 homes and businesses.
Virgin Media were this year named as Ireland’s fastest broadband network by consumers through the independent network assessment firm Ookla, while Cartesian also named Virgin Media as having the best performing WiFi in Ireland.
Virgin Media’s Business network offers the fastest widely-available speeds of up to 360Mbps for consumers and 400Mbps for businesses. The company is also making significant investments in its network capacity to meet the fast growing usage of broadband by customers, which is increasing at a rate of 37% per annum.
Hundreds of Kildare residents, businesses, students, shoppers and tourists will benefit from the improved connectivity as free public WiFi is made available on Market Square. To celebrate this exciting development, TV3’s Ireland AM will be broadcast live from Kildare town on Friday 10th February. Members of the public are invited to pop along to the broadcast (beside Kildare Heritage Centre) and see some of Kildare’s best known personalities talking to Ireland AM about Kildare.
Sean Dunne, President of Kildare South Chamber of Commerce, said: “Virgin Media’s investment in the area is extremely welcome.
“Fast internet is vital in today’s economy and this announcement means that local residents and businesses will benefit from some of the fastest broadband in the country.
Paul Farrell, Commercial Vice President at Virgin Media, said: “With online spending by Irish consumers set to almost double in value in the next five years*, there are opportunities for every Irish SME and start-ups to capture their share of the fastest-growing sector in the economy, but they have to act fast. Virgin Media Business is continuing to expand Ireland’s fastest and biggest fibre broadband network. We are delighted that Kildare will be the third town to benefit from switching on free WiFi, giving consumers on Market Square a taste of our superfast broadband service. This investment will give people in Kildare the chance to connect at work, home and out and about through the Virgin network. We urge other local councils and landlords to join with us to ensure this expansion happens as quickly as possible.”
Virgin Media Business will officially switch on its WiFi zone on Market Square at an event for local businesses in the Silken Thomas on Thursday 9th February at 11am.
Watch a video of all the action here.