As mobile internet grows in popularity it’s all about offering businesses complete communications solutions these days

THE ADVENT of mobile technology means broadband is mobile, satellite and fibre instead of DSL.

And the choice of suppliers is vast. But particularly in the corporate area, telecoms providers are noticing that customers want one provider for both their mobile and their fixed line services.

Fixed line services may have a slightly outdated image, but that’s not really the reality, according to Vodafone Ireland’s Anne O’Leary.

“We’re seeing a move to IP voice. If you’re a traditional fixed voice operator that’s tough,” she said. “Mobile services are going to get better as we move to 4G and LTE, but there are still businesses that are going to need services. We’re selling a lot more 100Mb connections, fat pipes that the mobile network will never be able to take.

“I think there’s a role for both. But I wouldn’t like to be depending on just fixed broadband or fixed voice. It’s now about IP voice, and the big bandwidth fibre connections we have.”

Ms O’Leary is Vodafone’s enterprise director, a side of the business that has been very active of late. Vodafone has been investing in developing its services, with some acquisitions helping to add to the skillset in the company.

In the past few years it has bought Perlico, some of BT Ireland’s assets, Interfusion and most recently, Complete Telecom. The latter, which is a particularly strong player in the government market, was announced on Monday, and it will combine with Interfusion and Vodafone’s own in-house team to create a new enterprise solutions unit, which is expected to comprise up to 80 people.

That figure may grow, Ms O’Leary said, with the company targeting ambitious growth in revenues in the coming years. Since 2011, Vodafone has grown its revenues from enterprise data network solutions by 30 per cent, and it expects this figure to double following the Complete acquisition.

It forms part of Vodafone’s new strategy, which is to grow its data revenues considerably over the coming years. Vodafone invested more than €120 million on its fixed and mobile network last year.

“Our plan is to be number one. We want to significantly grow our fixed business. If one in two businesses are with us for mobile, it’s going to be hard to grow that on the mobile side,” she said. “If we can sell fixed services to our mobile base and supply total communications, that’s a growth opportunity for us.”

Although there are no plans as yet to make any more purchases, Ms O’Leary isn’t ruling it out.

“We have very significant ambitions to get there, and we will do it through more acquisitions and organic growth – it will be a combination of both,” she said.

At the other end of the scale, companies who were strong in the fixed line sector are seeing their business under threat in some sectors as growing mobile use changes the face of the industry.

No firm knows that better than Eircom. The former Telecom Éireann has had a rough few years as its dominance in the telecoms sector was challenged by newcomers offering different services to customers, from high speed broadband and voice over IP to satellite broadband and a range of mobile services.

The company sold Eircell, now owned by Vodafone, back in 2001, leaving it without a mobile subsidiary. That move was attributed by Moody’s earlier this year as partly contributing to the troubles the firm suffered in subsequent years.

In 2005, the former telecoms incumbent bought Meteor for €419 million, and established the eMobile brand in 2010.

Although the firm has targeted small businesses with its services, it hasn’t pushed for big business in any meaningful way, nor has it targeted the public sector – until now.

Eircom has been investing in its technology platform for both its fixed and mobile services.

Ronan Kneafsey, director of Eircom Business, says eMobile is on the verge of unveiling a new business service that will round out its service offering for customers.

Eircom Business provides end-to-end managed network services, data centres and ICT solutions. It is responsible for the large enterprise and government side of Eircom’s business.

Despite the corporate debt restructuring and examinership that has plagued the company, the business division has won €120 million worth of business in 2012, including the C2k contract in Northern Ireland through a partnership with Northgate. To win that contract, Eircom outbid BT.

Also on the plus side of things for the business division on 2012 were contract wins with AIB, Fexco, NUI Galway and the Convention Centre. The company has to keep on top of things as much as possible; competition in its markets is fierce.

“There’s a lot of change going on within the business environment from a technology point of view,” Mr Kneafsey said. “Mobile is a critical element for us and we’re looking forward to challenging that mobile market, challenging the status quo, and offering good value, choice and ultimately as well a converged proposition to other customers.”

An investment in its service has also enabled Eircom to offer what it describes as a seamless and integrated service to its customers, and has won ISO accreditation for its service model.

Customers are looking for seamless connectivity, Mr Kneafsey acknowledges.

“Whether that comes from fixed or mobile is irrelevant, they’re not focused on what the technology behind the service is, they just want to get seamless connectivity, whether in the office or on the road.”

That is where Eircom is heading, towards a more converged model for businesses.

Although the public sector is currently trying to cut back on spending neither Eircom nor Vodafone is concerned that this will make business more difficult.

“Our customers and the public sector generally are looking for better value and are generally looking to cut costs,” Eircom’s Kneafsey said.

“The reality is they have postponed many new technology projects because of funding issues. But it does present opportunities for companies who can provide usage-based propositions so that public sector customers don’t need to invest capital and also because it gives them some flexibility.”

Vodafone is taking an equally upbeat approach to the market. Ms O’Leary said that the savings and efficiencies created through the use of technology may be enough to balance out the initial investment in the technology.

“The market is competitive, the recession has driven it right across all sectors, with customers demanding better value,” she said. “There’s also a demand for information and a new way of working – tablets, secure devices, access to information. With that demand for information and people trying to be more productive in their work, they need the networks. There is better value out there for the public sector.”