[London, ENGLAND] Emerging as a major U.K. Internet service
provider, Scottish telecoms company
iomart Group plc
announced Friday it will put its own equipment into BT local
exchanges to beef up its existing ADSL services.
Up till now, iomart has been using BT’s IP Stream product range
to supply ADSL services in the U.K. via its Copperburst and
consumer-oriented Madasafish brands. This will change next
year when iomart becomes a beneficiary of unbundling the last
mile of copper cable.
Initially, iomart says it will focus on the Scottish market,
installing equipment in BT exchanges in Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Aberdeen and Dundee. However, it also has plans to take the
service to the rest of the U.K.
Angus MacSween, iomart’s chief executive, said ADSL was the
entry point to building long term customer relationships. He
said once these were established, iomart could add Web hosting,
telephony services and business-class out-sourced e-mail to
meet customers’ needs.
“As a licensed telco with no legacy to protect, we can move
swiftly to offer our customers the full potential from this
new broadband technology,” said MacSween.
In recent months, iomart has made substantial progress in the
U.K.’s highly competitive ISP market. It claims 220,000 users
for its Madasafish consumer Internet service and has installed
its own Network Center in London’s Docklands. It is one of
only three U.K. ISPs to enjoy Cisco Powered Network Status.
iomart’s roll-out of DSL services is expected to occur over
a three-year period, during which it will offer a full range
of high speed access products with applications such as video
on demand, video conferencing and Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP).
iomart floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of
the London Stock Exchange in April this year.