Eircom and Digiweb plan 10Mbps satellite broadband

21 Dec 2010

Eircom is to resell Digiweb’s Tooway satellite broadband service across Ireland. It plans to roll out 10Mbps satellite broadband across the country next year.

The partnership allows Eircom to introduce lower-cost satellite broadband services countrywide and in particular, serve areas of the country where people can’t access DSL or 3G services.,

“We are delighted to expand and enhance our broadband services nationwide to offer customers an alternative where Eircom broadband is not currently available,” said Emer Kennedy, director of Product Management and Development at Eircom.

“We selected Digiweb due to the quality and competitiveness of the Tooway product range together with Digiweb’s expertise with satellite technology,” Kennedy said.

10Mbps satellite broadband

Digiweb Group offers the Tooway service through a distribution agreement with Eutelsat Communications.

During the early part of 2011, both Digiweb and Eircom will introduce even higher speed broadband services on new Eutelsat’s KA band satellite (KA-SAT), which will offer download speeds of up to 10 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 4 Mbps.

KA-SAT will form the cornerstone of a new European satellite infrastructure which includes eight main satellite gateways located across Europe which are connected to the internet by a fibre backbone ring.  With its total capacity of more than 70Gbps, KA-SAT will rank as the world’s most powerful spacecraft and Europe’s first high-throughput satellite (HTS) will usher in a new era of competitively priced satellite-delivered services, Eircom said.

“Satellite broadband services provide a high quality internet experience. They are reliable, robust, low cost and offer faster speeds than ever before. Business and consumers are now engaging more with the service as speeds rise and prices continue to fall.”

Under the current offering, Eircom can provide 3.6Mbps download and 384Kbps upload speeds for €44.99, €59.99, €79.99 and €132.99 based on traffic of 2.4GB, 4GB, 6GB and 12GB respectively. Installation, however, is €760, including VAT.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com