In Person with Liam O'Kelly, AirSpeed Telecom CEO
AirSpeed Telecom is currently Ireland’s only national provider of licensed wireless services exclusively operating its own access network. The company was recently ranked seventh in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 for Ireland and has now announced it will invest another €1.2 million in enhancing its network. CEO Liam O'Kelly spoke to Licensed Wireless News about the company's expansion plans and its drive to help power Ireland's knowledge economy.
|
AirSpeed Telecom CEO Liam O'Kelly says Ireland has the genuine potential to build a wealth economy, using licensed wireless as the last mile technology to deliver massive bandwidth to every region.
|
Licensed Wireless News: How did AirSpeed first start?
Liam O'Kelly: I come from an engineering background and was originally involved in companies which built and created broadcast systems for television stations, including all the necessary technology for editing and postproduction suites. As part of one project for a client we had the opportunity to look at technologies for wireless broadband and spotted a gap in the market. In 2003 we entered the Irish market to deliver leased line replacement services for Internet access to Irish businesses, at between 30% and 50% of the cost of competing products.
LWN: Did the business grow as anticipated, or has it taken unexpected directions?
LO’K: Our original target market was Dublin-based businesses, but we've evolved both geographically and in our product set. We didn't originally provide voice services, but that's a large and growing area for us now. In addition to providing IP services for Internet access, we deliver connectivity for multinationals and government customers wanting to interconnect sites across the country. The last time we conducted a market assessment, we had achieved national reach to around 90% of Irish SMEs. That's something we're very proud of, because our services are as pertinent to the two- and five-man operation as to the multinational. No matter what your size, if you’re a company who can't do without bandwidth and you need more dedicated connectivity than a contended DSL connection can provide, alongside a strong service-level agreement, you really should be looking at AirSpeed Telecom.
LWN: The market has moved on significantly since 2003. Is AirSpeed Telecom still offering something unique?
LO’K: We're out there to provide the very best product in the market, with high bandwidth, resiliency, quality and service. We've never taken our focus away from that objective or been distracted by serving the consumer market. We know that we're delivering some of the best quality customer service -- our customers always comment on how easy it is to ring us up and get right through to the technician or another specialist they need. Ring up any of our competitors and you’ll end up on IVR, pressing one for business, two for sales and so on.
LWN: You've spoken before about your vision for a better connected Ireland, with high-bandwidth right out into the regions. Is Ireland ever going to get there?
LO’K: The regions are part of the global economy and they need high-bandwidth telecommunications services, but even if you look ahead 5 to 10 years time, it's a big ask to think that fibre is going to be dug into these locations -- it simply won't happen. What you will see is AirSpeed Telecom and companies like us continuing to deliver high-bandwidth services using radio for the last mile and backhauling onto the nearest fibre point. If we can get to that stage, and huge bandwidth is delivered right across the country and deep into the regions -- not just to educational establishments but also to enterprise -- you're looking at a genuine potential to create a wealth economy.
LWN: What do you see for AirSpeed Telecom when you look ahead 5 to 10 years?
LO’K: Right now our main focus is investing another €1.2 million directly into our network, which will let us serve more customers and increase the available bandwidth on our backhaul. But looking further out, probably the most exciting development is in microwave radio technology itself, because the technology evolution there in terms of improved bandwidth is significant. From AirSpeed Telecom you'll see much a denser network with greater fibre integration in the coming years, which will allow us to deliver massive bandwidth to customers, using wireless as the last mile technology.
LWN: You’ve made some significant announcements recently in the film and television market. Do you see good growth for AirSpeed Telecom in this sector in the short-term?
LO’K: Yes, this is a sector where we see tremendous potential. Today film and television is almost completely an electronic medium – a movie can be shot in LA, and with the right bandwidth, postproduction and effects can be done in the UK or anywhere. We're working with the postproduction company Windmill Lane Pictures on its new premises as it tries to bring more of that business into Ireland. But the other area that's strongly emerging now for us is videoconferencing. The equipment vendors are working hard to develop affordable systems that deliver very lifelike conferencing experiences. Those developments, along with companies' need to be more productive and reduce travel costs, make video an exciting growth area for companies like ourselves who provide the bandwidth to make it happen. The low latency, very high-bandwidth connections vital to quality videoconferencing are becoming widely available now, and we're hearing from an increasing number of companies who want to turn this technology to their advantage.
|
