IRISH WI-FI provider Bitbuzz passed an important psychological barrier in recent weeks by logging its 500,000th registered user.

Founder Shane Deasy told me this week the company now has 540,000 registered users, up almost 14 per cent since the end of June. About half of these are regular users, he said.

Latest ComReg figures show that Bitbuzz accounts for 55 per cent of all public Wi-Fi access in Ireland. Not bad when you consider the competition includes Eircom and BT.

Bitbuzz’s main focus is hotels and Deasy puts the growth down to increased use of data on smartphones and a rise in visitor numbers to the country.

Bitbuzz has also been dipping its toes into the UK market with some success. It has just become the approved supplier with Easy Hotels (an offshoot from EasyJet) and numbers Leeds Bradford Airport and Choice Hotels among its clients there.

Revenues in 2010 hit €1.1 million and Deasy said they are up 25 per cent so far this year.

But he won’t reveal its profits. “We are profitable and have been since 2004. We’re a growing business and most of that money has been reinvested into the company.”