Smart move will save firms a packet

BUSINESSES in Cork will soon be able to save up to 50% on communications costs, following the completion of a fibre-optic cable network and the entry of a new service provider to the market.

The network is more than 60 kilometres in length and will provide high quality voice, data and internet services to businesses in the Cork area.

Dublin-based Smart Telecom yesterday announced the launch of its service, which will allow corporate customers to tailor their communications spending to suit their circumstances and eliminate unnecessary spending.

Customers will be able to use multiple services, such as voice and data transfer, using just one connection. Smart said it aimed to be between three and five times more efficient than existing competitors.

Smart chief executive Oisín Fanning said the new service would bring huge savings as well as a significant competitive advantage to corporate customers.

“We have brought to market a unique offering and believe that the corporate market and Ireland’s economy can benefit substantially,” said Mr Fanning.

Mr Fanning said Smart took advantage of a depressed telecoms industry over the last three years to buy access to infrastructure at low prices.

The company has also invested in the latest communications infrastructure that uses proven technology from the US. He added that existing telecom operators charged higher prices as a result of their investment in technology that would soon be out of date.

“Smart Telecom doesn’t have these old legacy technology costs. The incumbents want to protect the current high prices and it won’t be easy for them,” said Mr Fanning.

Access to voice and data services had been too expensive in Cork and other provincial locations in the past, the company said. This had hindered investment in the Irish operations of multinationals and had lost jobs to other countries with better infrastructure.

Smart said its new service would make Cork as attractive as London or Frankfurt for locating data-dependent business. It would provide businesses with data circuits linking them to European locations for half the price y charged by competitors.

Smart’s new network is part of a €30 million investment programme over five years. It also announced the completion of a 120 kilometre data network in Dublin yesterday and said it planned to roll out its service to Galway and Letterkenny in Co Donegal in the coming months.