Sky poised to pounce

It’s all go at BSkyB’s Irish operation at the moment.

The broadcaster has filled 300 of the additional jobs it announced in February and plans to have 900 staff in place at 1 Burlington Plaza by next July, well ahead of the 2014 target it originally announced.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is being lined up to cut the ribbon at an official opening ceremony in January.

Sky has also begun testing its broadband and voice services among a group of customers.

Sky is wholesaling these services from BT Ireland.

A full commercial launch of its telephony products is planned for early in the new year rather than by the end of 2012 as originally flagged.

Sky has also appointed Slattery Communications to handle its public relations activities following a tender process. Slattery takes over the account from Edelman.

With Sky already having about 700,000 TV subscribers here, it will have a powerful platform for its triple play (TV, broadband and voice) offering to compete with rival UPC.

The pricing of its bundle is a closely guarded secret for now, although you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out that it will be competitively priced.