MERCURY Communications is to invest £5 million in the development of its telecom network as part of its plans to develop its business in the North.
Over the past four years, the company has invested about £40 million in building up a 16 per cent share in the corporate market. Mercury chief executive, Mr Peter Howell Davies, said the priority would be to increase its coverage of the corporate sector, and particularly of small- and medium-sized businesses.
"This will be achieved through a combination of direct investment and strategic alliances with other companies," he added.
Mercury, which employs about 45 people in the North's part of the Cable & Wireless group. It has a turnover of £1.6 billion and a total workforce of more than 8,000.
Mr Howell-Davies rejected any suggestion that the company might pull out of the North. "I'd like to dispel the perception that Mercury might be moving out of Northern Ireland; completely the opposite. The new business plan we have put together (and) the new economic climate we see in Northern Ireland has persuaded us that we ought to be investing more money in Northern Ireland rather than considering coming out."
