BSkyB eyes up Irish broadband market

BSKYB is likely to enter the Irish broadband market, through its Sky Ireland subsidiary, within the next year.

In London yesterday, the broadcasting corporation announced details of its Sky broadband package for the British market. Sky is set to invest £400 million (€584m) into the service over the next three years and it is tipped to be earnings enhancing by 2010.

With regard to the Irish market, one industry source said: “Would Sky like to roll this out in Ireland? Yes. Will it do so? Yes. The big question would seem to be when. They’d like it to be as soon as possible, but much will depend on the development of Ireland’s broadband map and greater local loop unbundling (LLU).