The Minister for Communications, Dermot Ahern, has formally switched on the new Limerick broadband network.
It consists of 42km of high speed fibre cable running through the city and suburbs and costs €5m.
It is part of the national €70m roll out of high speed communications cable in 25 key towns and cities across the country.
The cable, which provides high speed access to the Internet, will pass close to all the commercial and business areas, and to the technology parks, and will connect with major public buildings, hospitals and schools.
A further €0.5m is to be spent on extending the fibre across the Shannon in the city to the Limerick Institute of Technology and the region's Maternity Hospital.
