Up to 60 jobs and a further 200 in construction have been announced in the building of a new high-speed broadband network around the country.

The ESB and Vodafone are coming together to create SIRO, which will invest €450m to initially deliver high-speed broadband to 50 towns around Ireland.

The first ten towns are Cavan, Dundalk, Westport, Castlebar, Sligo, Carrigaline, Tralee, Navan, Letterkenny and Wexford.

The initial phase of the project is expected to be fully rolled-out by the end of 2018.

SIRO also announced its interest in tendering for the National Broadband Plan later this year, to bring broadband to rural Ireland.

300 more smaller towns are likely to also get the service in phase two. Homes and businesses will be able to access speeds of up to one gigabit.

SIRO CEO Seán Atkinson says as demand requires, this will be increased.