Mr Bart Bonsall yesterday confirmed his resignation as chief executive of Chorus, the Irish broadband communications company.

Chorus, formerly known as Irish Multichannel, is jointly owned by Independent News & Media and US company Liberty Media.

"This was a difficult decision," said Mr Bonsall. "During my tenure, I believe that Chorus has been transformed from a rural cable/MMDS operator into a national communications company, and much credit is due to the excellent staff who worked so diligently with me to achieve this."

Mr Bonsall said his aim was to develop a number of other projects in Europe, but that he would be available on a non-exclusive basis to assist Chorus during the transition process.

"For my part, I have been building telecommunications companies for the past 20 years and now I think it is timely that I branch out on my own," he said.

The company has a franchise licence covering around 600,000 homes outside Dublin. It claims to have 250,000 customers for its TV service.