Growth in demand for data services drives opportunities in telecoms

Thursday 19 January 2012

• Average time spent online per day now matches time spent watching TV signalling ongoing need for investment in telecoms infrastructure
• Coillte now managing largest portfolio of telecom mast sites in Ireland with 420 towers, adding real value to estate
• Coillte has invested €5 million in growing telecoms business in recent years

Thursday 19th January 2012- Coillte, Ireland’s largest forestry and forest products company, today hosted a briefing session for senior executives in the telecommunications industry at which the company set out its stall as a key player in the future growth of the sector in Ireland.

Coillte owns and manages 7% of the land of Ireland making it Ireland’s largest landowner. As part of its ongoing strategy to add value to its estate Coillte has built up the largest portfolio of telecoms mast sites in the country with over 420 towers on Coillte land. Coillte has invested approximately €5m in its telecoms business in the last 3 years and has a clear strategy to meet the growth in demand in the wireless sector.

Speaking at the event David Gunning, Chief Executive of Coillte said: “Coillte has invested significant time and energy in getting to know this sector, understanding the business and building powerful relationships with our customers which will help deliver opportunities for us to enhance the value of our assets. Coillte is a major player in the successful rollout of the National Broadband Scheme, building over 100 telecom towers as part of that project to bring broadband to rural areas.   “We are now ready for the next phase of our development in this sector and are delighted that so many of the leading players in the industry have attended our event today to hear about our strategy for the future and to understand the opportunities which this brings for them

“Our strategy in telecommunications clearly shows how we can add value to the land asset which we manage when we are innovative and customer focused. The major growth in demand for mobile data, the introduction of new technology and the consolidation of the existing networks will require additional network coverage and capacity. Fibre connectivity to telecom tower sites is fast becoming a requirement to enhance the network performance and deliver high speed wireless services. Coillte is actively exploring how fibre connectivity can be delivered to its portfolio of telecom site locations in order to meet the current and future market requirements.”

Also featured at the event today was an overview of the recently launched Coillte Telecoms website – www.coilltetelecoms.ie. The website gives a huge amount of information on Coillte’s tower portfolio and allows customers search for relevant information countrywide. 

Commenting on the success of the website Mark Foley, Managing Director of Coillte Enterprise said:

“The website is proving to be a very popular tool with our customers because of the amount of information available and the ability to search the Coillte portfolio of towers and land locations on it.

“Numerous reports confirm that the public appetite for data services is continuing to grow. Coillte is at the forefront of helping to build the infrastructure to meet this demand” he added.

Ends.

For more information contact:
Tom Byrne
Head of Corporate Communications
Coillte

Tel: 01 201 5231 / 086 810 4224

Notes to Editors:

Coillte’s core purpose is to enrich lives, locally, nationally and globally through innovative and sustainable management of natural resources. Coillte is Ireland’s largest landowner and is involved in forestry, land management and renewable energy, as well as the manufacture and export of timber panel products. The company employs approximately 1,000 people in Ireland, the UK and Europe.


Coillte is celebrating 10 years of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification in its forestry business this year.

For more information on Coillte see www.coillte.ie or download our iPhone app from the app store.

Key drivers of demand for data services:
Fixed and mobile broadband growth – Fixed broadband increased by 8% between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011. Mobile broadband grew by 14.8% between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011 (ComReg’s Quarterly Key Data Report, Q2, 2011).

Greater time spent online – Time spent online per day at 2 hours 44 minutes now mirrors time spent watching TV at 2 hours 49 minutes (Red C: De-Coding Digital Trends Ireland 2011). The average Irish Internet user spends 8 hours per week on social media, the heaviest users of social media are 18-24 year at 11 hours per week (Behaviour & Attitudes: Bacardi Together Poll, July 2011).

ComReg website September 2011
Consumer adoption of higher (advertised) broadband speeds continues, with 12.5% of all broadband subscriptions now in the >10Mbps category compared to 7.3% this time last year.