Wireless ISP Beacon Broadband Offered £48K Boost in Northern Ireland

Derry-based fixed wireless ISP Beacon Broadband has been offered £48,000 by Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) to help fuel the creation of 12 new jobs, which will support the expansion of their network in Northern Ireland via additional engineers, support staff and management roles.

The provider has built a network that straddles various parts of both Northern Ireland and Ireland, which includes communities such as St Johnston, Carrigans, Newton, Manor, Killea, Ramelton, Inch, Bridge End, Tooban, Lisfannon, Buncrana, Illies, Rathmullan, Portsallon Derry City, Bready, Newbuildings, Ardmore, Campsie, Culmore, Muff, Redcastle, Moville and Shrove.

Customers of the ISP typically pay from £25 inc. VAT per month (plus £99 one-off for installation) in order to receive a 10Mbps (2Mbps upload) connection with unlimited usage, a monthly contract and an included broadband router. The top package costs £55 per month and offers a download speed of 40Mbps (8Mbps upload).

Brian McCourt, Managing Director of Beacon Broadband, said:

“Our company ethos is built on providing strong customer service backed by the provision of guaranteed service speeds and uptime. Using the latest technology, we offer speeds that rival fibre broadband in areas that have little or no broadband access. This is making us a very attractive proposition to many consumers across both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.

Invest NI assistance is helping us grow our business by recruiting additional employees to help increase our sales in export markets. We are delighted with the support we have received which will help us to secure new sales, particularly in the ROI market.”

We should point out that the top speed of 40Mbps may be said to “rival” hybrid “fibre broadband” services like FTTC (VDSL2), although it’s a long way off the Gigabit (1000Mbps+) capability of true fibre optic providers (FTTH/P and FTTB) and is also well behind Virgin Media’s 350Mbps capable HFC EuroDOCSIS network. The new generation of G.fast based hybrid fibre services also push well above 100Mbps+ for those who can receive it.

Des Gartland, Invest NI’s North West Regional Manager, said:

“Beacon Broadband was established in 2016 to exploit a gap in the wireless broadband market created as a result of the increased popularity in media streaming. These new jobs are great news for the local area and our support is ensuring the company has the resources in place to win new business in its target markets.”

Beacon also offers a range of business packages with Prioritised Traffic, although these top out at the same speed as their residential offerings (40Mbps).