Sky to launch broadband service for Ireland
BT partnership to create more jobs for Dublin
TechLife | 26 Jul 2012 :
Sky has confirmed plans to launch its Sky Broadband and Sky Talk services in Ireland later this year. The broadcaster and telco has agreed a wholesale deal with BT Ireland which will enable it to add home broadband and telephony to its existing pay TV service.
A dedicated Customer Contact Centre for Irish customers has been promised to open in September at Burlington Plaza, Dublin. This will see its workforce increase to 900 people over the next 18 months.
Analysis
Niall Kitson
TechCentral.ie
Sky's on-again-off-again with broadband in Ireland is finally on after years of procrastination and rumour. BT's Irish operation is focused on networks and businesses so a return to the consumer space ends its wilderness years and expose it to scrutiny as to what it has been doing in the interim.
Eircom's expensive and rather tame broadband offerings shouldn't prove much competition for Sky, but trumping UPC's fibre network and on-demand content offering will prove a much more difficult ask. Sky will need to compete on speed, price and customer service. Does BT have the firepower to make that happen?
JD Buckley, managing director of Sky Ireland (pictured), said: "We've been looking at how best to bring our customers more choice and better value in broadband and talk. We're confident of delivering the right products at the right prices so customers have a real alternative to the incumbent services they've been used to.
The company said customers will be able to pre-register for broadband and talk "in due course". An actual release date has yet to be confirmed.
TechCentral Reporters