INDIGO, the Internet service provider known for its aggressive approach to the Irish market, plans to extend local call access to 70 per cent of the population within the next three months. According to Indigo's chief executive, Michael Branagan, the plan is the first stage of a strategy which will eventually allow the company to service 95 per cent of the country (by population).
The extension of Indigo's service has been made possible under its deal with Telecom Eireann, whereby Indigo will buy ports on nine countrywide nodes, or Points of Presence (POPs). The nine areas to be covered will be Dublin, Cork, Sligo, Drogheda, Galway, Waterford, Portlaoise, Limerick and Letterkenny.
Indigo's service will be available to users in Limerick in four weeks and will be completed two months later with the connection of the Letterkenny node. At present Indigo has POPs in Dublin and Waterford, offering a service to 51 per cent of the population.
The capacity of the lines connecting the various nodes will vary according to predicted demand. Cork, for example, will be linked by a 256k line while traffic from the Letterkenny node will be via a 64k line.
These capacities may be increased if there is sufficient demand. "All our lines are very quickly upgrade able," Mr Branagan said. He added that all Indigo nodes are accessible at the faster rate of 28,800 bits per second.
In a separate development Indigo also intends to open a 512k line between Dublin and Belfast in four weeks. It intends to develop a network throughout Northern Ireland and, according to Mr Branagan, is already looking at Derry.