One of the fastest growing private telecoms firms in the US has taken control of the Irish firm Net2Cell and will begin offering broadband in Dublin next month.
Clearwire, which was founded by the US billionaire Mr Craig McCaw, has bought a 75 per cent stake in Net2Cell, a company which owns 18 wireless broadband licences in the Republic.
The fixed wireless access licences, which were awarded by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) in 2003, will enable Clearwire to offer broadband in designated areas of Dublin and Leinster.
Clearwire plans to use technology based on a wireless standard known called WiMax, which should begin to offer extremely fast internet connections sometime in 2005 or 2006.
The firm will compete against fixed line broadband companies such as Esat BT and Eircom and a host of other wireless internet firms.
It plans to launch a limited service next month to comply with its licence obligations and follow up with a full launch next May.
Clearwire bought the 75 per cent stake in Net2Cell from the US investment firm Clarity Partners for an undisclosed sum.
The remaining 25 per cent stake is held by Mr Brent Smith, Net2Cell's founder, who still works for the firm rebranded, Clearwire Ireland.
A Clearwire spokesman based in the US confirmed the purchase yesterday and said it had identified the Irish opportunity as part of a global search for spectrum.
Clearwire is one of the biggest private telecoms firms offering fixed wireless broadband services in the US following the completion of a $160 million (€119.4 million) fund raising during the summer. In addition to this funding round the company recently signed an equipment deal with Intel, which will see the chip maker's private equity arm invest in Clearwire.
Clearwire, which is based near Seattle, plans to expand its service throughout the 44 largest cities in Canada and the eight largest cities in Mexico and Ireland, according to a report in the Seattle Times.
Clearwire already operates in several US states including Florida, Texas and Minnesota. Mr McCaw is one of the most prominent telecoms entrepreneurs in the US.
