EIRCOM IS set to appoint American Joel Wachtler as its new director of strategy and business development.
Mr Wachtler was most recently vice-president of marketing and strategy at iPass, a California-based company that provides technology services for employees who work remotely. He has worked for telcos in London and Belgium.
Mr Wachtler joined iPass in 2003 and is an experienced executive in broadband. He holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of Virginia.
An announcement on his appointment is expected to be made today. It is understood Mr Wachtler will travel to Ireland this week to meet his new colleagues. His appointment is the latest piece of a major overhaul of Eircom senior management by chief executive Paul Donovan.
Separately, Eircom announced plans yesterday for faster broadband speeds for residential and business customers as a result of a major investment in so-called next-generation infrastructure providing high-capacity bandwidth.
Customers living close to upgraded exchanges will now receive up to 8Mb download speeds as a minimum.
This is part of a €1 billion investment by Eircom in its network over the past three years, including a €100 million spend in the run-up to the launch of the improved broadband service.
Eircom customers currently receiving 1Mb, 3Mb and 8Mb products will be upgraded for free.
Eircom said this would give customers faster speeds and more consistent coverage, particularly during peak times.
It will also make it easier for customers to watch video over the internet, participate in online gaming, facilitate cloud computing applications, and improve video conferencing.
The faster speeds will be available at prices ranging from €24.99 to €39.82 a month for residential users. Two business products are available each month at €20.65 and €24.78, both excluding VAT.
Eircom has also cut its excess usage charges and put a limit on broadband bills of €50 a month.
It will offer a wholesale product to other companies at €4.90 a month, excluding VAT. Eircom said other operators can specify their own product speeds and performance characteristics.
The new service will initially be available in Dublin but will be expanded to Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford by the end of the year. It will be available on about one million lines by the end of this year.
Mr Donovan said yesterday the company’s move would help push Ireland “up several notches in the [global] broadband league tables and put to bed the myth that we don’t have breadth or depth” in the network.
Mr Donovan reiterated his position that consideration needed to be given to operators and the Government collaborating to provide an extensive and top-quality fibre network to underpin future telecoms needs in Ireland.
He said it would be a “tragedy” if “networks got overbuilt”. He said the telecoms revenue pool in Ireland was about €4 billion and declining, with capital expenditure running at €600-700 million a year.
Eircom, he added, would like to have some visibility on the matter by the end of 2010.
