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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Eircom'

Hutchison Whompoa interested in Eircom’s acquisition (Ireland)

  • November 4th, 2008
  • 10:45 am

Hutchison Whompoa shows interest in Eircom’s acquisition. Hutchison Whompoa’s group finance director, Frank Sixt, has reportedly met with the Irish operator Eircom’s top execs during the Conference in Dublin. BCM, Eircom’s majority owner is planning to consider bids for Eircom to overcome the debt of EUR 4 billion.

   

Eircom to introduce higher broadband speeds

  • February 1st, 2008
  • 11:24 am

Irish communications provider Eircom will increase speeds for broadband customers nationwide and lower wholesale broadband prices. Retail broadband customers will continue to pay the same monthly fee, but will receive the speed upgrades free of charge. As such, over 240,000 wholesale and retail customers will benefit from higher broadband download speeds, ranging between 3 Mbps to 12 Mbps. Clients who currently use a 3, 4 or 6 Mbps product will be upgraded to 7.6, 10 and 12 Mbps, respectively; while customers currently using a 2 Mbps product will be upgraded to a 3 Mbps product. Eircom will also introduce broadband products with download speeds between 1 Mbps up to 12 Mbps. The speed upgrades and new products will gradually become available over the next months.

   

Eircom sells masts business for EUR 155 mln (Ireland)

  • September 19th, 2007
  • 2:29 pm

Irish operator eircom has agreed to sell its 340 mobile radio masts to the Irish investment group Towercomm for EUR 155 million cash. TowerCom is a consortium comprised of network services provider Threefold Project Management, Goodbody Stockbrokers and Plainfield Asset Management. The price is equal to 17.2 times the operation’s EBITDA for the year to March 2007. Proceeds from the transaction will be reinvested in eircom’s core business activities, principally in its already-announced investments in broadband rollout, next-generation core network, 3G mobile and improving the efficiency of its local access network and operations.

   

Eircom to sell mobile towers to Threefold - report (Ireland)

  • September 17th, 2007
  • 10:30 am

Irish operator Eircom is near a deal to sell its mobile towers infrastructure business to Threefold Project Management, reports the Irtish Times. Threefold, which already provides network services to mobile operators, is thought to have offered EUR 160 million for the activities. It is one of three groups shortlisted for the deal. The other bidders are thought to be Powerscourt Investments and Arqiva. Eircom declined to comment on the sale. The masts generate about EUR 10 million in revenues annually, with Eircom the biggest customer, followed by mobile operator Vodafone.

   

Irish govt shortlists 4 firms for broadband scheme (Ireland)

  • September 3rd, 2007
  • 2:11 pm

The Irish government has shortlisted four candidates for its scheme to bring broadband services to underserved areas. The four candidates for the next stage of the National Broadband Scheme are BT Ireland, Eircom, mobile operator 3 and a IFA/Motorola consortium. They will present their plans to the communications ministry, with a winner to be selected in early 2008. The government has set aside spectrum for possible wireless services under the scheme, while the winner will also receive financial support for rolling out its network.

   

Eircom extends broadband to 19 new exchanges

  • August 6th, 2007
  • 2:06 pm

Eircom has provided its broadband service to a further 19 exchanges, as part of its broadband rollout programme in Ireland. This results in an additional 12,000 new customers qualifying for broadband. The enablement of the 19 exchanges comes as part of plans to broadband enable over a further 400 exchanges across Ireland. More than 900 exchanges, representing 96 percent of the working phone lines in Ireland, will be connected to a broadband exchange within the next two years.

   

Eircom approaches BT, Orange on retail sale - report

  • July 24th, 2007
  • 2:29 pm

Eircom has approached operators such as BT and Orange on the possible sale of its retail and mobile businesses, reports Ireland’s Sunday Independent. Industry sources told the paper that eircom’s owner Babcock & Brown is looking at selling the retail fixed-line operations and mobile unit Meteor in order to focus on the profitable wholesale network business. The mobile business is estimated to be worth about EUR 800 million, while the retail fixed-line operations could go for EUR 1 billion. No formal talks have started yet with BT, while Orange figures among various large telecom and IT companies approached by the Irish operator. Corporate finance sources suggested that UPC could also be interested, or 3 in the mobile network. Private equity groups may also be approached for possible interest. Babcock acquired eircom last year for EUR 2.4 billion.

   

Eircom to increase PSTN line rental fees by 3.6% on 30 June

  • June 18th, 2007
  • 2:19 pm

Irish operator Eircom will increase the phone bill charges from 30 July. The monthly PSTN line rental will increase by EUR 1.18 and the average customer bill will increase by approximately 3.6 percent. The average Irish telephone bill for both business and residential customers remains below the EU average for national and international call baskets. The line rental charge is a contribution to the cost of provision and maintenance of the infrastructure connecting each customer to their local exchange.

   

eircom announces 3.6% price rise

  • June 15th, 2007
  • 12:24 pm

Irish fixed line incumbent eircom has announced plans to raise domestic phone bills by an average 3.6% and line rental charges by nearly 5% from the end of next month. Call charges for local and national long-distance calls as well as the cost of using the operator’s directory service are also going up by 4.9%, it said in a statement. eircom talktime products are also set to rise by between 2.5% and 3.8%, although the cost of broadband and international calls services are unchanged. The former monopoly blames the price rise – the first in three years – on rising business costs. ‘As with any other utility operating in the Irish market, we continue to face the same challenges of increased business costs, higher wages, and the need to continuously invest in our network,’ said Rex Comb, chief executive officer of eircom.

   

 

eircom announces 3.6% price rise

  • June 15th, 2007
  • 12:24 pm

Irish fixed line incumbent eircom has announced plans to raise domestic phone bills by an average 3.6% and line rental charges by nearly 5% from the end of next month. Call charges for local and national long-distance calls as well as the cost of using the operator’s directory service are also going up by 4.9%, it said in a statement. eircom talktime products are also set to rise by between 2.5% and 3.8%, although the cost of broadband and international calls services are unchanged. The former monopoly blames the price rise – the first in three years – on rising business costs. ‘As with any other utility operating in the Irish market, we continue to face the same challenges of increased business costs, higher wages, and the need to continuously invest in our network,’ said Rex Comb, chief executive officer of eircom.