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Digiweb joins satellite broadband market
Monday, September 09 2002
by Matthew Clark


Irish company Digiweb launched a new satellite based broadband service on Monday,
which will make high-speed Internet available anywhere in Ireland.

Looking to address the apparent gap in Ireland's broadband Internet market, the
Dundalk-based company launched a new two-way satellite-based solution that lets
users connect to the Web at speeds of up to 512kb/s, regardless of where they
live in the Republic or Northern Ireland. 



Other high-speed Net access products, such as the ADSL services offered by Eircom
and Esat BT, are generally limited to urban areas where customers need to be
within a few kilometres of a digital telephone exchange. 



Even fixed-wireless broadband services, such as the type sold by SkyNet and Leap
Broadband are contingent on a users location and for now these services are also
limited to densely populated areas.  



But Digiweb notes that a recent Deloitte & Touche e-business Survey reported that
over 45 percent of business owners indicated that lack of broadband was a major
issue for firms looking to expand their business. This concern generally runs
high throughout the country, not just in Dublin, or in other urban centres where
high-speed Net products are just starting to come on-line. 



"Whether they are located in a remote area or in the centre of town we can now
provide Irish businesses and organisations a fast cost-effective broadband
service without delay," commented Colm Piercy, managing director of Digiweb. 



The company's service, which is an "always-on" 512kb/s connection (128kb/s
upload speed) with no download limitations, sells for EUR119 per month, plus a
connection fee. Digiweb also includes e-mail and Web site hosting services within
the package, as it looks to attract small businesses. Despite the business' focus
on non-urban customers, initial interest in the service has been strong in
Dublin, Piercy said.



The installation cost for the service will however preclude the average consumer
from signing up. At EUR1,495 for installation, which includes ownership of the
equipment, a fixed IP address and a broadcasting licence, it is expected that
only small to medium sized businesses and perhaps teleworkers could justify the
expenditure.  



The movement into this market is a slight leap from the company's existing
operations which to date have included Web hosting, Web site marketing and domain
registration. Piercy explained that over the past few years the company's
services have expanded to include more sophisticated services, and even software
development, with high-speed Internet access the only service customers continued
to demand. Over the next few months, the business plans to roll out a corporate
Web access service that will offer more bandwidth. 



Digiweb enters a market that is slowly filling with competition. Earlier this
year Irish company Educom launched a similar service which had lower installation
costs but higher per month fees. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, BT has launched
its own satellite Internet service. 



The research company Dataquest did a study of satellite broadband suggesting that
the number of satellite terminals in the world's three major economic regions is
set to increase from an installed base of 293,500 terminals in 2000 to 7.2
million terminals in 2005. 



By that time, Dataquest said that North America will account for 54 percent of
all satellite broadband access terminals, with Europe and the Asia-Pacific region
accounting for 30 percent and 16 percent respectively.



This bodes well for the new Irish satellite ISPs as they move to offer new ways
of accessing the web.