Broadband company Magnet Business has extended its roll-out to eight additional exchanges in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick.

Aimed at the business market, the SDSL connections will allow the same upload and download speeds. Download speeds are much faster than upload speeds with the more common ADSL.

Magnet claims that SDSL will drastically cut broadband costs for a typical company by €500-€1,500 per month.

Magnet said that until this point businesses requiring SDSL in these cities usually opted for a leased line or a wireless connection which, depending on the topography of an area, is not always as reliable as a local exchange product.

According to Louise McKeown, head of business sales at Magnet, businesses in the cities had been driving the demand for the SDSL service. "The biggest thing for them is they can now avail of a synchronous service for €450 or €350 for the 1Mb product. This allows them to shop around a bit more because the choice in the regions is very limited."

One of the idiosyncrasies of SDSL is that the line must be dedicated, whereas with ADSL the voice and data line can be shared. Ms McKeown said many companies will have existing lines, such as ISDN connections, that can be converted into an SDSL line. Unused copper wiring in a building - called "spare path" - can also be used.

Ms McKeown said the type of businesses availing of the service to date were IT companies, architectural firms and hospitals. "These organisations will, usually, already have ADSL and have realised the benefits of an always-on connection and now want to take it to the next level. As files and applications such as VOIP and video conferencing are becoming more data intensive, there's a growing demand from business for dedicated services with equivalent upload and download speeds."