By European standards, Ireland's Internet and broadband markets remain underdeveloped. Statistics from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development put the country's broadband penetration rate at 9.2 percent in 2006, compared with an E.U. average of 15.5 percent. But thanks to recent efforts by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), alternative providers can now offer high-speed broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services without requiring customers to change their phone numbers. With ComReg's efforts to improve local loop unbundling, broadband penetration should improve in the near future.
Unlike some countries that have taken steps to ban or discourage VoIP adoption with daunting or cost-prohibitive licensing requirements, Ireland today is a VoIP-friendly country. "This is a very dynamic market and there is acceptance that using the Internet and the PC to make phone calls is going mainstream," says Ian Fogg, broadband and VoIP analyst for JupiterResearch.
Ireland has no specific laws regulating VoIP licensing and is ahead of many other European countries in paving the way for the growth of VoIP, but rural coverage still lags.
Ice Broadband
Ice Broadband is one of the leading broadband providers in the Irish market. The service is based upon its own scalable network bypassing the requirement to use existing providers' infrastructure. Ice Broadband has committed to provide quality service to the largely forgotten rural populations and communities in Ireland where lack of quality broadband is a particular problem.
The company recently announced plans to cover 70 towns in Ireland with broadband services using a combination of wireless technologies and Motorola Canopy® technology, with plans to double this over the next six months.
"We are constantly finding whole stretches of the population that literally cannot get broadband," says Yvonne Rooney, Ice Broadband's managing director. "We'll charge the same price everywhere in the country and cover as many areas as we can get to."
Ice Broadband's Objectives
By leveraging wireless technology, the company hopes to quickly roll out a network that will reach customers across the country, regardless of the quality of fixed-line infrastructure.
In May 2007, after evaluating a number of solutions for its rapid network rollout, Ice Broadband selected point-to-multipoint and point-to-point solutions from Motorola's MOTOwi4TM portfolio of wireless broadband solutions. Industry-leading interference mitigation techniques and excellent VoIP quality proved to be key factors in the decision, according to Ian Bayly, Motorola's MOTOwi4 European sales director.
The Outcome
Ice Broadband continues to be active in the broadband market in regions of Ireland that other providers have overlooked for mainstream vendors. The company now provides broadband services in 60 locations, including the greater Dublin area and counties Meath, Kildare, Westmeath, Laois, Carlow, Tipperary, Limerick, Offaly and most recently Monaghan.
Ice Broadband is introducing new products to the ever changing broadband market. The company's ICEpack includes free local, national and international calls along with its existing quality broadband services. ICEpack is available in regional and urban areas starting at an extremely competitive € 49.99 inclusive of unlimited local, national, UK and US calls
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