BSkyB has entered the fiercely competitive broadband market for the first time, although it is not likely to offer any Irish products in the medium term.

Yesterday BSkyB, which owns Sky Ireland, ended days of speculation by confirming it had agreed a £211 million (€311.2 million) takeover of UK broadband firm Easynet.

Easynet will form part of a new BSkyB division, Sky Broadband, signalling the satellite broadcaster's determination to compete in the fast growing high-speed internet market.

In recent days, Irish analysts have suggested that Sky Ireland might also seek to move into the Irish broadband sector, possibly via an alliance with Smart Telecom.

But yesterday sources at Sky Ireland said the company had no plans in the short to medium term to offer a Sky branded broadband product.

BSkyB has offered 175p per Easynet share, valuing the company at £211 million in a cash deal. This represents an 81 per cent premium on the company's closing share price of 96.5p last Friday, which was the last day of trading before Easynet confirmed on Monday morning that it was in takeover talks with an undisclosed buyer.

The satellite broadcaster said it had received undertakings accepting its offer from Easynet directors and shareholders representing 21.8 per cent of the firm's issued shares.

"Easynet innovative network and technological expertise perfectly complement Sky's strengths in programming and in making technologies easy to use," the BSkyB chief executive, James Murdoch, said.

"We see value for families in moving well beyond just another triple play [of broadband, television and telephone] to offer a new level of connected entertainment and communications," Mr Murdoch added.

The Easynet chief executive, David Rowe, said: "This is a great opportunity to accelerate Easynet's local loop footprint, capture market share for next generation broadband services and support new and existing corporate and public sector customers."

(Additional reporting by the Guardian service)