Irish Broadband to create 20 Cork jobs

IRISH Broadband, the wireless internet access provider, will create 60 jobs during 2004 to meet increasing demand for its broadband products. At least 20 jobs will be in Cork.

A subsidiary of toll road and waste management group NTR plc, the company currently employs 45 people in Dublin and Belfast. The new jobs will include technical, engineering, administrative, marketing and sales positions.

Irish Broadband was set up in 2002 and currently provides high-speed internet access to business and residential customers in the greater Dublin area. It will launch its service in Cork city next month and has also been awarded licences by telecoms regulator ComReg to supply broadband services to Limerick, Galway, Waterford and the Co Louth towns of Dundalk and Drogheda. The company’s coverage will extend to 80% of the population by the middle of this year.

The company’s technology allows broadband internet access without copper wiring. Its network involves a series of “high sites”, similar to mobile phone base stations and allow customers within five kilometres of the site to access the service.

Cork’s first high site is nearing completion and will be located at the R&H Hall building on Centre Park Road, Marina Walk. The company has 12 high sites in the Dublin area.

“We are actively recruiting staff to provide existing and future customers with the best, most cost-effective broadband service in the market,” said managing director Paul Doody.

“We are delivering on the government’s vision of affordable broadband for all sectors of the community with an aggressive network rollout,” he said.

Irish Broadband’s head of market development Cáitlín O’Connor, said the take-up of broadband had been faster than expected and the new jobs reflected this.

The firm provides broadband access from €35 per month to residential customers and €75 per month for businesses.