Pure Telecom and open eir in €35M deal

Many homes in Ireland are still waiting for access to high-speed broadband. We partner with a number of leading wholesale telecom providers to ensure we can offer competitive broadband rates as soon as fibre is laid.

open eir is currently in the midst of a nationwide high-speed broadband rollout and that is why we have just signed a 35 million deal with the wholesale telecoms provider. The two-year agreement allows Pure Telecom to offer almost two million potential customers high-speed broadband and phone services via open eir's nationwide open-access network. This agreement will help us to extend our reach across the country and offer broadband speeds of up to 1,000Mbps.

Pure Telecom is currently on an aggressive growth path and we are aiming to reach 100,000 residential customers by 2019. In order to acquire more customers and facilitate those growing numbers, we announced 32 extra jobs earlier this year.

The deal follows a 20 million agreement that we signed with open eir in June 2015. This latest agreement reflects our growing customer base, which rose 25% on 2015 figures, reaching 42,500 in 2016. The rise in numbers led to our best-ever financial year, up 17% on 2015 figures to reach 20 million. Demand for broadband services is also at an all-time high as an increasing amount of consumer leisure time relies on a high-speed internet connection.

Speaking about the announcement, Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom, said: At Pure Telecom, our strategy is very focused. We provide the best service at competitive prices. That is why we work with a number of Ireland's leading wholesale providers so that we can give customers the solution that best suits their needs.

Open eir has the most extensive phone and high-speed broadband network in Ireland and one which is growing by the day. We are delighted to announce this agreement as it is key to helping us extend our reach to existing and potential customers in cities and towns across the country, as well as rural Ireland. It will help us to meet our target of 100,000 residential customers by 2019, which we are already well on our way to achieving.

Orlagh Nevin, Director of Sales, Marketing and Service, open eir, said: For more than 15 years, Pure Telecom has shown itself to be a savvy business that knows how to attract and retain its customers. It, therefore, makes a lot of sense for us to partner with the company again as we continue our large-scale rollout of fibre broadband across the country.

Earlier this year, we made a commitment to the Government that we would connect 300,000 homes in 890 communities throughout the country to fibre broadband. This means that by the end of next year, two years ahead of our initial target date, we will have a fibre broadband footprint of 1.9 million premises in Ireland greater than any other operator in the country.