Dublin-based telco Magnet Networks has announced it will offer high-speed ADSL technology to various postcodes in the capital over the coming months, as the first step of a wider national rollout.
The company, better known for its provision of fibre networks to a number of new housing developments in Dublin and the wider Leinster area over the past 12 months, is to offer digital telephony, digital TV and high-speed broadband services using ADSL2+ broadband technology.
The rollout is part of a €65m network investment strategy announced by the company recently and due to be implemented over the next three years. The company said, when complete, its broadband network would be the second largest in the country after Eircom’s.
In common with other forms of DSL technology, ADSL2+ piggybacks on Eircom’s existing copper network but delivers fast data download speeds — up to 25Mbps, Magnet claims, adding that this high-data carrying capacity would effectively “futureproof” its network.
The company said services would be immediately available to residents in parts of Dublin 2, 3, 7, 8, 10 and 12, through the unbundling of lines in Eircom exchanges in Clontarf, Ship St and Dolphin Barns, and would be extended to “large areas of the city” over the coming months as the unbundling process is completed at other exchanges. The firm also outlined plans to offer to launch services in Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford by early 2006.
Priced at €72.99 per month, the company’s Magnet Value package provides subscribers with free line rental, free local and national calls, low-rate international calls, voice mailbox and alarm call services, digital TV and 4Mbps broadband.
Depending on the level of services selected, other triple-play packages are available from €39.99 and the company claims customers could cut their domestic communications and entertainment bills by €500 per year or more by switching to Magnet Networks from their current supplier.
Commenting on the launch, Magnet Networks executive chairman Kenneth D Peterson Jr said the launch of ADSL2+ was part of the company’s strategy to bring “competitively priced multi-play digital services to as many consumers as possible in Ireland”.
“Our triple-play services form the basis of what will soon become a true multi-play offering, with the addition in the near future of services such as video on demand, digital home security and online gaming,” he added.
By Brian Skelly
