Irish WiMAX player goes wired

Irish Broadband found it couldn't reach everyone with Fixed WiMAX. Then it discovered a new technology: ADSL.

A unit of National Toll Roads (which makes exactly that), Irish Broadband sells wireless broadband using Fixed WiMAX gear from Navini Networks (for 512 kb/s downloads) and Alvarion (for 2 Mb/s to 10 Mb/s).

At the end of last year, it took the unusual step of offering ADSL to customers its wireless network couldn't reach — those in rural areas or urban dead zones. Irish's wireless network covers 90% to 95% of Dublin, but there are people who want the service in the other 5% to 10% of the city. Not all of Irish Broadband's services require line of sight, but its higher-speed services do.

Part of the reason Irish Broadband got into the DSL business was that its national advertising was drawing responses from rural dwellers hoping to sign up for WiMAX. “Half the calls we got were from outside our [service] area,” said Neil Parkinson, Irish Broadband's CEO. He realized he could either turn those customers away or sell them DSL (or rather re-sell them DSL from the incumbent carrier, Eircom), with an eye toward potentially adding WiMAX to those areas if demand ultimately allows it.

“Ireland is in a growth phase,” Parkinson said. Last year, Parkinson's first year at the helm, the company spent 25 million euros (or about $33 million) in an effort to double the capacity of its wireless network. At the end of September, Irish had about 30,000 customers. Four months later, it had 40,000. This year, the company expects to add another 20,000 or 30,000 or so.

Several factors make Ireland a ripe market for wireless broadband. Believe it or not, Ireland's mobile phone penetration is actually above 100%. But only 45% of the country's Internet users have a broadband connection. In a recent survey, 28% of those using dial-up Internet access said they tried to get broadband service but were told it was unavailable. And those who can get wireline broadband from Eircom aren't happy with the price. According to the survey, Ireland has the highest DSL rates in the European Union: about $32 per month, 33% higher than the average EU price. “People are resistant to that,” Parkinson said. “If you have wireless, you don't have to pay it.”

Price wars have been a trial by fire for Irish Broadband as it competes with Clearwire and Digiweb, among others. But the company doesn't expect to lower prices any further this year. “We'll price it cheaper than the incumbent, but we're not the cheapest in the market,” he said. “There's one or two lunatics out there offering ridiculously small margins.”

In November, Irish introduced two new products: its “Go” card, a portable laptop card popular with rail commuters, and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service. Following Vodafone's lead, Irish plans to emphasize service over technology in its marketing, keeping it simple in an effort to win over, as Parkinson put it, “your mother or your granny.”

“We're not going to call it VoIP,” he said. “We'll call it YouTalk or AllTalk. We need to get away from the technology.”

As a WiMAX provider gone DSL, he practices the same agnosticism he preaches.