UTV today announced new voice and Internet services that will see it become the first ISP to offer flat-rate Internet access to consumers in the State.
The new services, to be known as UTVip, will be available throughout Ireland and will offer consumers with eircom phone lines savings of 25 per cent on call rates for local, national and international voice calls and off-peak Internet access for a flat rate of €29.99 per month.
"Irish telephone and Internet users are suffering because of a lack of real competition in the marketplace. We are confident that UTV Internet's voice and Internet offerings will deliver considerable savings," UTV Internet's managing director, Mr Scott Taunton, said this morning.
He said: "Since we launched our free Internet service in Ireland two years ago, we have been extremely pleased with the market response ' 42 per cent of our customers are now based in the Republic - and we look forward to building on that success with UTVip".
In March this year, the UTV group took a 50 per cent stake in Dublin media start-up Bocom Ltd, a company supplying advertising, news and weather content via satellite to high-quality plasma screens in public areas. Bocom has secured a deal with Aer Rianta to supply content to screens in Dublin Airport's baggage halls.
A month later, a deal to acquire Limerick-based Treaty Radio for €15.74 million was concluded, giving UTV ownership of the Live95FM station. This acquisition followed the completion of UTV's €14.2 million purchase of the 40 per cent of Cork-based County Media that it did not already own.
As well as expanding its presence in the Republic, UTV is positioned to enter new radio marketplaces in Britain through membership of a new consortium, Absolute Radio UK.
