Dublin-based wireless broadband provider HIBB to offer 3Gbps service, journal says

SiliconRepublic reports that Dublin-based wireless services provider Host Ireland Business Broadband (HIBB) has morphed its business model, from pure hosting to offering businesses and other carriers high speed internet access at speeds ranging from 700Mbps to 3Gbps. The online journal says that the telco recently inked a EUR1.2 million (USD1.7 million) deal with Dublin firm Sharp Security, for the security monitoring telecoms infrastructure for the latter’s entire base. HIBB is using so-called ‘extremely high frequency’ (E-Band) technology to roll out fibre in the air-type services on a point-to-point basis in Ireland. The newcomer’s CEO Ben Kitchin is quoted as saying that with the firm struggling to differentiate itself from rivals, due to the high cost of fibre, it opted for E-Band instead. The ultra-high frequency technology enables the use of laser-like radiowaves for communications between HIBB and its customers – which include Vodafone, he said. As such, the company is able to offer higher data transmission capacity, because the narrow bandwidth requirements mean they do not overlap and the same frequency can be used ‘many times’ at each base station. HIBB hopes to capitalise on the technological advantage to offer users symmetrical broadband with an entry level speed of 10.5Mbps, he added, noting that the firm is in the process of rolling out the network countrywide. Kitchin says that using E-band technology will allow his company to undercut other fixed wireless access (FWA) providers by up to 50%, and that currently it is being used by ‘three of the top telecom players in Ireland to provide dedicated enterprise solutions to corporates’.