One of Europe's leading providers of satellite broadband and telecommunications services have announced a major digital first for Ireland.

Onwave, formerly Satellite Broadband Ireland, is launching uniformly high quality packages of digital TV, home phone and up to 10Mb broadband for every home in Ireland, regardless of location.

The move will allow Irish homes to access triple-play services for the first time, whilst providing all the major digital home services via a single satellite connection. The service will also rebalance the rural/urban digital divide.

Onwave will market its broadband-only service to a core target market of 210,843 home and business internet users in Ireland who currently connect to the internet at speeds under 2Mb.2 This group includes 54,718 who are still on narrowband or dial-up connections and will ensure that every Irish townland is finally in sync with the digital age.

Faster internet is also important in spreading the benefits of the smart economy nationwide. Rural students, businesses and home workers will no longer be disadvantaged by where they live, in terms of their ability to have high-quality, reliable access to the web resources and productivity technologies they need.

Kevin Ryan, Chief Executive Officer at Onwave, said: “The benefits will spread to rural businesses, who will be able to compete on an equal footing with their urban counterparts, helping to spread employment and opportunities nationwide.”

Onwave has partnered with Eutelsat, Europe’s leading satellite operator to bring this new service to Ireland. The partnership gives onwave the service delivery network via Eutelsat’s next-generation Tooway satellite services.

Onwave is simultaneously launching this for every home in the UK. It will shortly launch more business services which will provide significantly higher speeds, up to 20Mb download.

(BMcN/GK)