eircom Wholesale Launches Next Generation Ethernet Services

• Enables Telecom Operators to offer world class Ethernet connectivity to SME’s and Corporate’s nationwide over the eircom network
• Leverages eircom’s €100 million NGN investment to serve over 500 urban and provincial exchange areas at launch
• Provides extremely high speed connectivity of between 10 Megabits and 1Gigabits per second

eircom Wholesale has hugely enhanced the speed and variety of data services telecom operators can use on their own networks and to supply to their business customers following the launch of eircom Wholesale’s NGN Ethernet. eircom’s wholesale telecom service, available now, provides services with speeds of up to 1 Gb per second across Ireland. 

With over 500 exchanges served at launch, Next Generation Ethernet offers unrivalled reach and uses eircom’s Next Generation Network to deliver substantial cost savings to operators, compared to existing traditional connectivity solutions.  

NGN Ethernet will allow telecom operators to create exciting new products to satisfy the growing demand among Irish enterprises for extremely high bandwidth. For Irish businesses outside metropolitan areas, NGN Ethernet marks a major step-change in the bandwidth available to them. Regions which can now access 1Gbps fibre services include Youghal, Mullingar, Enniscorthy, Drogheda and Kilkenny, and dozens of other provincial towns.  

Services like mobile broadband, videoconferencing, high-quality voice over IP, next generation cloud computing and bandwidth-intensive imaging applications are perfectly suited to NGN Ethernet, which is available at a range of speeds, from a minimum of 10 Mbps up to 1 Gbps. 

Commenting on the announcement, Gerry McAndrew, Acting Director, eircom Wholesale said "NGN Ethernet delivers the data product our Wholesale customers have been asking for, not just in terms of speed and capacity, but also in terms of reach and cost. We can directly serve over 500 exchanges across metropolitan, suburban and rural Ireland from today. This number will rise as the rollout progresses into 2011.”  

"We've repeatedly said that the eircom network infrastructure is open for business to all Operators and we're delighted that our €100 million euro investment in eircom's new NGN core can now benefit bandwidth-hungry enterprises all over Ireland. NGN Ethernet, coupled with our NGN Wholesale Broadband service which we launched in March for the home user market, are two very significant and important steps for the eircom Wholesale division.  

The NGN Wholesale Ethernet launch follows the announcement of open access Fibre to the Home (FTTH) trials in Sandyford and Wexford Town and an investment by eircom of more than €1bn over a three year period in network infrastructure, including the construction of the Next Generation Network. 

This very high capacity, all IP core network is a key foundation for Ireland’s future economic growth, providing greater downloading capacity in anticipation of the continued demand for high-bandwidth services.
Further information and a full coverage map for the new service is available at www.nextgenerationethernet.com

ENDS  

For more information, please contact:

Paul Bradley
Head of Communications
eircom
Tel: +353 1 600 4281
Mobile: +353 85 17 44 281
Paul_bradley@eircom.ie    

Dearbhaill Rossiter
Senior Press Office
eircom
Tel: +353 1 600 5284
Mob: +353 85 1745 284
drossiter@eircom.ie