It was announced today that BT Ireland has secured an exclusive wholesale contract with Sky Ireland to support the TV and broadband provider’s rollout of ultrafast broadband across the country.

BT won a highly competitive tender to secure the multi-year contract, which will see the company provide Sky Ireland with a comprehensive managed service to help bring its ultrafast broadband offering to the market. This will include rural homes to be covered by the National Broadband Plan.

As part of the deal, BT will also supply voice over IP (VOIP) services to alleviate reliance on phone lines for voice calls.

BT claims the rollout of the technology will bring major benefits to the Irish broadband market, offering consumers more competition and choice of broadband products and a single phone and broadband offering, rather than having to rely on different providers for different services.

Speaking today, Managing Director at BT Ireland, Shay Walsh said, "We are delighted that Sky Ireland chose BT to support the next phase of its rollout of next generation broadband technology. It’s great news for the market in general, because competition brings choice and now consumers and businesses will have more providers to choose from for phone and broadband services."

Managing Director at Sky Ireland, JD Buckley added, "This deal with BT reflects our continued commitment to investment in infrastructure in Ireland and will mean our customers can avail of the highest fibre speeds in the country across the widest possible footprint.  It will also allow us to bring fibre to currently underserved rural customers as part of the Government’s National Broadband Plan."

Source: www.businessworld.ie