Jamie Smyth

Technology Reporter

Energis, the British firm that recently acquired Irish telecoms company Nevada tele.com, may not complete a €10.4 million State-backed telecoms project in the Republic.

The firm's new general manager, Mr David Beck, said yesterday that Energis was reviewing all parts of the company's operations, including its State-backed projects.

"Like everything else, we are looking at it to make sure it is of commercial benefit to the firm," he told The Irish Times in his first interview since being appointed to the position.

Mr Beck said the building programme had not halted altogether but was proceeding at a slower pace. Energis may be able to do the project at a lower cost and may not use all the grant aid available to it, he added.

The Energis project forms part of a Government plan to attract €200 million investment in telecoms infrastructure under the National Development Plan. But the downturn in the sector has undermined the plan, with several firms unable to complete their investments due to the cash crunch in telecoms.

The liquidated wireless company Formus Broadband and cable firm Chorus have both either pulled out of similar projects or severely delayed investment due to the downturn.

The slowdown in investment by private firms is a crucial factor in the Government decision to invest €65 million over two years to build several public telecoms networks. The roll-out of 19 metropolitan fibre networks in regional towns by local authorities should be complete in 2005.

Nevada tele.com had planned to build four e-commerce hubs in regional areas such as Galway, Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon and Castlebar. These centres would be connected over a broadband internet protocol network to enable the firm to provide Web hosting, high-speed internet access, application services and competitive telephony services.

But the Government confirmed yesterday that Energis had only completed its proposed hub in Carrick-on-Shannon and had received just €330,000 in grants.

It is believed the firm and officials at the Department of Communications have discussed the viability of the other projects.

Energis has cut back sharply on its all-Ireland operations since acquiring the remaining 50 per cent stake it did not own in Nevada tele.com last year from electricity firm Viridian.

Mr Beck said employment at the firm - which once was almost 200 staff - would fall to about 50 people later this year. Nevada tele.com's former managing director, Mr Les Harris, recently left the company.

Energis has also changed its business strategy in the Republic to focus exclusively on corporate and large public sector clients. It is informing hundreds of smaller customers that it will not offer them a service in the future.

"We believe smaller customers are better served by resellers who can give them more customer focus," said Mr Beck. "We are looking to concentrate more on what we can do best."