Vodafone has become Ireland's second-biggest fixed line ISP following a deal with BT worth €4.7 million to take on 84,000 residential and 3,000 small businesses customers.
The deal which is subject to regulatory approval will give Vodafone 15% market share. While BT will shed its Irish residential customer base it will provide wholesale network services to support Vodafone's business over a seven-year period.
BT will continue to operate in the Irish market focusing on becoming the number one provider of networked IT services to mid and large sized businesses and the public sector. BT has also committed to investing in an advanced network infrastructure and improving broadband speeds in Ireland and will provide a platform for the delivery of up to 24Mbps broadband services to two thirds of Ireland's available broadband lines by unbundling up to 58 additional exchanges.
BT has already unbundled 22 exchanges in the Republic of Ireland. BT Ireland CEO Chris Clark said “this is a very positive chapter in Ireland's telecoms history and will open up the market to greater competition and choice. BT has made remarkable strides in Ireland in recent years in securing landmark managed services deals with corporate customers, the public sector and other communications providers. We will aggressively focus on growing our impressive share of these market segments, while investing in the network access that customers and Ireland Inc. need to compete effectively.'
