Eircom Wholesale has signed a deal with Pure Telecom that is set to be worth about €20 million over the next two years. Under the deal, the whole communications services provider will deliver high-speed broadband and telephone services to Pure Telecom's residential and business customers.

"Our industry is changing," Pure Telecom's director Paul Connell said. "Our business customers need faster broadband so they can compete both domestically and internationally. Consumer demands are increasing. Smartphones, Netflix and social media are among the tools that are redefining the way people communicate and resetting needs and expectations and not just for city dwellers."

The company said it chose Eircom’s wholesale business based on national reach and future-proofing of the network. Eircom Wholesale’s fibre broadband, which offers speeds of up to 100Mb a second, extends to 1.2 million homes throughout the State, covering about half of the households and businesses in the country. It aims to increase that to 70 per cent by 2016 and 80 per cent by 2020.

Earlier this month, Eircom said it would roll out its fibre broadband to more rural areas of Ireland, adding 300,000 premises in more than 1,000 communities in Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo and Waterford. It is part of a €400 million investment in the infrastructure over the next five years. “We aim to provide the same quality of service to rural, as well as urban customers,” Mr Connell said.

Eircom is also planning to launch 1Gb a second Fibre To the Home (FTTH) services in September. It is currently testing the service in Mayo, with 156 homes, two schools and a community centre connected to the network. "Partnering with eircom Wholesale means Pure Telecom customers have access to the largest high- speed fibre network in Ireland," said Peter Clarke, director of sales, marketing, international and customer service at Eircom Wholesale.