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Killarney businesses contacted by billionaire’s tech company

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By Sean Moriarty

Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite Internet service has already been in contact with home and business owners in the Killarney area offering a connection to the new service.

 

Starlink is SpaceX’s plan to build an interconnected Internet network with thousands of satellites, designed to deliver high-speed Internet to anywhere on the planet. The network is an ambitious endeavour, which SpaceX has said will cost about $10 billion or more to build.

Earlier this week it was reported that one of the last places in Ireland to get electricity and telephone connections - The Black Valley - could be one of the first in the world to get a satellite based broadband Internet connection - thanks to interest from the Tesla electric car founder.

However, potential customers who want to sign up for the service can do so by paying a monthly fee of around €80 on top of an initial €400 fee for a connection kit.

“If this brings Internet to the Black Valley, we don’t care where it comes from,” Patricia Deane, the manager of the McGillycuddy Reeks European Innovative Partnerships Project (EIPP), told the Killarney Advertiser.

"If this really is a possibility it should be explored without delay. The Black Valley community needs this basic infrastructure now more than ever and have been waiting a long time for help in getting working broadband delivered to the area. There are people in the Black Valley that don’t even have a mobile phone signal not to mind broadband. They are holding phones up to the window to take calls. In this day and age, with working from home and children home-schooling, broadband is a basic service.”

Kerry County Council has confirmed to the Killarney Advertiser that it is in talks with Starlink’s parent company Spacelink – the company that launched several satellites into space last summer – but remains tight-lipped on the finer details of the situation.

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Several businesses in Killarney have been contacted by the company after receiving emails inviting them to join the service. While there were initial concerns that the email was a scam, they have turned out to be genuine.

One Killarney business man - who did not want to be named - said he got an email from Starlink inviting him to subscribe to the service, adding he has no direct links to the Black Valley.

“It came to my business email, not my personal one,” he told the Killarney Advertiser. “I don’t know where they got it but it is genuine – we checked it out.”

Starlink claim its satellite service will be available worldwide later this year. The American firm is targeting rural areas across the world – places where mobile and landline coverage is impossible.

"Important to note that cellular will always have the advantage in dense urban areas. Satellites are best for low to medium population density areas," said Starlink Elon Musk late last year.

More tellingly he Tweeted: “Starlink is really meant for those who are least served.”

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BREAKING: Kerry ETB Awarded €2.3m to purchase Pretty Polly Site

The Kerry Education and Training Board (Kerry ETB) has been awarded €2.3 million in funding to purchase the former Pretty Polly site on Upper Park Road, Killarney. The funding, announced […]

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The Kerry Education and Training Board (Kerry ETB) has been awarded €2.3 million in funding to purchase the former Pretty Polly site on Upper Park Road, Killarney.

The funding, announced this morning by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, will allow Kerry ETB to develop the site as a new Tourism Sector Training College. The proposed facility will focus on training for the hospitality and tourism industries.
Kerry TD Michael Cahill described the announcement as “a major vote of confidence in Killarney and the wider Kerry tourism industry.”
“This is immense news for the town,” said Deputy Cahill. “It will mark Killarney out officially as the tourism capital of Ireland by providing a Hospitality Sector Training College right in the heart of the county.”
Deputy Cahill said he had been advocating for such a development since entering the Dáil, adding that the investment “will be a gamechanger for the hospitality sector in Killarney and Kerry.”
He also recalled the former CERT training centre that operated at the Torc Great Southern Hotel in the 1970s, noting that this new project would revive that legacy for a new generation of tourism professionals.
The Pretty Polly site, vacant for many years, will now be transformed into a key educational and economic hub for the region once the project proceeds.

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Coffee morning being held in memory of late Kevin O’Shea

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A coffee morning will take place in the Aghadoe Heights Hotel next week in memory of the late Kevin O’Shea.


It will take place on October 18 from 11am to 1pm.


All proceeds will go to Kerry Hospice Foundation, Kerry Cancer Support Group and Recovery Haven.


For those who are unable to make it on the day, you can make a donation online by scanning the QR code on the picture.


Kevin’s family extended their heartfelt thanks to local businesses and hotels that have generously sponsored spot prizes, all to be won on the day.


They also said that any donation, big or small, is appreciated and all support is most welcome.

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