A NEW broadband service is to bring satellite internet access to rural areas of Ireland, with a €7 million investment and the creation of new jobs in the coming months, writes CIARA O'BRIEN
European firm Eutelsat is to offer its Tooway satellite consumer internet service to customers in Ireland, which promises similar speeds and costs to ADSL.
The Tooway service is delivered through a small satellite dish and a modem connected to the PC via Ethernet, with speeds for two-way access starting at a maximum of 2 Mbps to download, and 256 Kbps on the uplink. Eutelsat plans to use its new KA-SAT satellite to boost speeds to up to 10Mbps by 2010.
The move is part of a Europe-wide assault on the market by Eutelsat, and the recent economic downturn is not expected to affect the roll-out. “The project is one the scale of which is not affected by the present recession. The project is an overall one for Europe, to provide broadband,” Arduino Patacchini, director of multimedia and value added services at Eutelsat, said.
“The interest in Ireland comes first of all from a commercial objective,” Mr Patacchini said. “Ireland is one of the countries where the infrastructure is not complete to provide broadband everywhere. That’s always an interesting market for satellite operators.”
Prices for the service currently start from €25 per month. However, usage on the service will be capped, depending on the subscription taken out by users.
As part of the project, Eutelsat is also planning to set up a satellite communications hub in Cork.
Local distributors will feel the benefit of the project, with Eutelsat choosing Satellite Broadband Ireland (SBI) and Digiweb to sell its product in Ireland. SBI’s Kevin Ryan said the new service would mean new jobs for the firm, with new roles expected in installation, customer service and support.
“We plan to create upwards of 20 jobs this year alone,” he said. He also indicated that more jobs could be created next year.
Mr Ryan said the introduction of the new broadband service would mean that those in rural areas who did not have access to broadband services at present would not have to wait for the roll- out of the national broadband scheme to get high-speed internet access.
“This is an immediate solution today with a 2Mb service, which is a very consistent and very fast service. With the kind of technology we use, the perception before of it being expensive and weather-dependent is rubbish now,” he said.
The introduction of the satellite access may clear the way for additional services in the future, as it is triple play-ready. This means distributors can offer additional TV and IP telephony services using the same equipment.
The Tooway service is available in 20 European countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and the UK. Other European countries are scheduled to roll out the service in the coming months.
