Open eir Brings 'High Speed High Street' to National Ploughing Championships

Open eir brings ‘High Speed High Street’ to National Ploughing Championships

Competition for three SMEs to win exhibition space at NPC

Competition marks open eir’s second year as official communications partner to NPC

open eir is, today, announcing ‘High Speed High Street’ – an initiative to showcase Irish SMEs using high speed broadband to promote their business online, to sell product and to engage in new market opportunities. As part of this initiative, open eir is offering three companies the opportunity to win free exhibition space at this year’s National Ploughing Championships and join a number of other Irish companies showcasing at the ‘High Speed High Street’ demo area at the open eir stand.

‘High Speed High Street’ has been created to mark open eir’s second year as official communications partner to Europe’s largest outdoor event and to highlight the benefits of high speed broadband to businesses in rural areas who are benefiting directly from open eir’s investment in fibre broadband.

In April, the company signed a commitment agreement to deliver rural fibre to the home (FTTH) to an additional 300,000 premises throughout the country. open eir is on track to deliver on this commitment by the end of next year. The first 70,000 premises of the 300,000 commercial rollout programme have now been built. As a direct result of open eir’s rollout programme, up to 80% of the premises in Ireland will have access to high speed broadband by the end of next year – that’s 1.9 million homes and businesses.

The prize package worth €10,000 to each winning business, includes an exhibition presence at ‘High Speed High Street’, customised promotional stand design, one year’s free broadband, publicity and accommodation, is open for entry online at www.fibrerollout.ie/ploughingcompetition. Entries will be accepted until 5pm on Thursday, 31st August 2017 for any Irish online SME or business which is using high-speed broadband.

Speaking at the launch of ‘High Speed High Street’, Orlagh Nevin, Director of Sales, Marketing and Service, open eir said: “We’ve chosen the theme, ‘High Speed High Street’, to reflect the positive impact fibre broadband is having on thousands of SMEs across rural Ireland. By providing rural businesses with high speed fibre broadband they can harness the full potential of an online presence, allowing them to engage directly with customers online and to explore new markets on a global scale. We have already enabled 1.6 million homes and businesses with access to a high speed broadband network and we are on track to meet our commitment to reach 1.9 million premises by end of next year.”

Anna May McHugh, Managing Director of the National Ploughing Association added: “There is no doubt that the entrepreneurial spark is alive and well in Ireland and this is particularly evident given the unprecedented number of diverse and exciting businesses exhibiting at this year’s National Ploughing Championships. It is the primary aim of the NPA to make the event better every year for visitors and exhibitors alike and, as a result, the NPA is delighted to have open eir as the official communications partner providing high fibre broadband speeds of up to 1,000Mbs. With record crowds of 283,000 visitors in attendance last year, and the site in Screggan proving to be a phenomenal success, signals would suggest another “great ploughing” is on the way.”

The National Ploughing Championships, which returns to Screggan, Tullamore, Co Offaly from 19th to 21st September 2017, is Europe’s largest outdoor agricultural trade exhibition. In 2016 283,000 people attended the event which featured 1,700 exhibitors.

Full terms and conditions for the open eir ‘High Speed High Street’ competition are available at www.fibrerollout.ie/ploughingcompetition/t&c. Winners will be notified by Wednesday, 6th September 2017.