Broadband provider Digiweb says it is on course to complete the current phase of its rollout of its Metro service to 26 towns across the country in mid November and will then commence rollout to a further 30 towns in January.
Digiweb managing director Colm Piercy told siliconrepbulic.com that at present the company has signed up 18,000 broadband customers and by November it will have covered 48pc of the country.
The company’s Metro broadband product strives to provide broadband to any user who wants it via a combination of DSL, fibre and wireless.
“We are aiming to be a national provider and are expanding our service rapidly across the country,” he said.
Last week the company introduced a business broadband package that gives small to medium-sized enterprises countrywide access to 1MB broadband, domain names, hosting, website and company email for €30 a month. For a further €10 a month a company would get 2MB broadband.
Broken down, the Business Starter package for just €9.99 per month offers complete website hosting and 250 email accounts and includes a free .com domain name or a .ie for €19.99 per year.
The higher-end Business Enterprise package for €29.99 includes three free .com names or a free .ie domain with 1,000 email addresses. Individual domains can be registered or renewed from just €6.99 per annum, or €29.99 for .ie domains.
Piercy explained: “We’re trying to make it as simple as possible for a business to go online. With this service we have a web builder application that allows businesses to put a reasonable website up there with limited experience.”
Piercy believes more Irish businesses need to embrace the internet. “A lot of progress has been made but more work needs to be done. Often businesses find getting a website up and running is a stumbling block and they think of the costs attached with hiring a designer.
“With this service they can go online and build their own website,” Piercy added, saying service also enables businesses to add in transactional services as well as customer relationship management applications to their website.
By John Kennedy
