Sky Ireland has become the latest telecom provider to begin offering a fibre based broadband service here. The new option will be available to around one million homes from January.
The operator will be offering speeds of up to 100Mbps over the Eircom fibre network, through a partnership with BT Ireland.
The company said the service will initially be available to existing customers and will be opened up to new customers within weeks.
Sky will offer two fibre broadband packs - Sky Fibre with a 25GB monthly cap, free local and national evening and weekend calls, and a 12 month contract for €40 per month including line rental.
A second pack, Sky Fibre Unlimited, has an unlimited data cap for €50 per month. However, subscribers to the unlimited data pack will be able to avail of an introductory price of €30 for the first six months.
Sky Ireland is among the last of the bigger telecom companies to offer a fibre service.
Eircom, UPC and Vodafone already provide a fibre option to some of their customers around the country.
Compared to the other providers, Sky's unlimited data package (after the introductory offer expires) is among the cheapest in the market, beaten only by Vodafone who offer a similar package with unlimited landline calls for €45 a month.
Sky will also be offering its fibre broadband service as part of a phone, internet and TV bundle.
Existing Sky TV customers with the original pack will pay €59 per month during the offer period, and €79 per month after that. New customers will pay €60 per month for the first six months they are on the bundle, and €79 after that.
The company hopes the addition of a fibre offering will help to boost the numbers using its On Demand and other interactive services, as competition with UPC's Horizon offering intensifies.
It will also be offering a wireless router which it claims uses "smart signal" technology to scan for interference in the home and then select the best wireless channel, to give the best signal available.
