Smart Telecom
Encyclopedia
Smart Telecom is an Irish
telecom operator that started as a phone card seller. It is also the third largest provider of cost-sensitive telecom services sector in Ireland, behind the incumbent operator Eircom
and BT Ireland
. It currently has an estimated 50,000 land-line customers and 18,000 broadband subscribers. It lost 20,000 land-line customers who reverted to Eircom
in 2006. Smart operates several services:
Backbone services are available to users in parts of Dublin, Cork
, Dundalk
, Limerick
, Letterkenny
, Galway
, Sligo
, Waterford
, Wexford
, Portlaoise, Mullingar
, Carlow
, Cavan
, Drogheda
, Killarney
, Tralee and Clonmel
.
Smart are probably most widely known for its residential broadband services, which launched in early 2005. The initial offering of fast broadband (for the time), which included completely free telephone line rental was considered revolutionary at the time and attracted huge numbers of customers interested in signing up to their service. Smart provides their broadband internet services through a process known as Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), whereby a telecoms company, for an agreed monthly fee to Eircom
, the owner of the line, can take complete control of the copper cable running from the customer premises to the local exchange. Smart installs its own equipment in exchanges (a process which has proved to be slow and cumbersome and has caused massive delays in their rollout plan, with only a handful of exchanges currently available). Its broadband internet service uses ADSL2+ broadband technology, which gives them an advantage in that Smart can provide higher speeds to customers, as well as having a longer "range" on the line, allowing customers who previously were unable to get existing ADSL broadband due to being too far from the exchange to sign up to smart for internet. Smart equipment is provided by Huawei-3com, under the Aolynk brand. Smart use the DR814, DR814g and DR814q routers by Aolynk, dependent on the services being deployed (broadband, broadband with wireless router, IPTV etc.). The broadband is provided completely independent of Eircom, using high speed fibre MAN's throughout the country to connect from the local smart enabled exchange to their co-located datacentres across the country. For the telephony part of the broadband LLU service, Smart use VoIP to carry POTS (Plain Old Telephony Service) calls from their exchange to its core network. This has the effect of the smart service being slightly different from traditional POTS services through Eircom, mainly relating to dial tones and telephone ringing patterns.
As well as providing LLU broadband services, Smart provide connectivity to customers through FTTB, otherwise known Fibre To The Basement. Currently, only a very small part of the network, mainly apartment complexes, is FTTB, offering VoIP telephony, high speed broadband and IP Television services through a package known as SmartVision. Smart also provide payphones, which were previously run under the Esat BT brand, before they were sold off during the rebrand of Esat BT to BT Ireland
. They also provide a CPS (Carrier Pre Selection) POTS telephony service and leased / dedicated fibre LAN lines for corporate customers.
, the largest telecoms operator in Ireland, and owner of the local loop
throughout the entire country.
On November 18, 2005 Smart Mobile was offered the country's fourth 3G mobile phone network licence on November 16, 2005 . Vodafone Ireland
, O2 Ireland
and 3 Ireland already had secured a 3G mobile phone network licence. Acceptance of the licence would require Smart Mobile to launch its services by April 30, 2007, with 33 percent demographic coverage by October 31, 2009 and 53 percent coverage by 2011.
The 3G spectrum access fee at €114.3 million, with an annual spectrum fee of €2.2 million and an administrative fee of up to €300,000 a year. Taking on a 3G licence would require substantial capital investment by Smart.
On November 9, 2005 Smart Telecom announced that it had raised €55.2 million in new funding. This involved a placing of new ordinary shares at a price of €0.20 per share and a debt equity conversion of €10.8 million.
But this licence was withdrawn in February 2006 by Comreg due to a failure by Smart to provide a €100 million performance guarantee bond in a form acceptable to it within the specified deadline. There was a significant drop in the companies share price subsequently. Smart is appealing the decision.
Smart Holdings Ltd lost a bid for to sponsor the weather forecast on RTE
to Glanbia
on April 7, 2006. The High Court ruled that its referential bid - based on a formula equivalent to the highest bid received +5% was not valid because RTÉ terms of offer did not permit this.
provider. It also announced that it was investing in an MPEG-4 headend for its own Triple play
service; the vendor was confirmed as Thomson.net in October 2007.
to promote and market broadband door-to-door, some as recently as five months earlier, the Chief Executive of Smart Telecom, Oisin Fanning fired 26 of them abruptly on August 31, 2006. This took place in the context of unmet sales targets of 64,000 sign-ups, aggravated by Smart being unable to get its equipment into many Eircom exchanges which meant that Smart had no product to sell in many parts of Ireland.
Smart Telecom (SMR.L) shares traded at 9c in early September 2006, less than two thirds of their floatation price. Sales for 2006 are anticipated to reach €60 million - up from €45 million in 2005. However losses of €23 million in 2005 are anticipated to be eclipsed by losses of €35 million in 2006. Management efforts are predicated on challenging the Eircom monopoly but this requires substantial funds to purchase appropriate telecom exchange equipment. A rights issue of €30 million in 2005 was underwritten by Brendan Murtagh, a Kingscourt
County Cavan
native who is a director of Smart.
Future prospects will be defined by the achievement of substantial growth in broadband sales volume and eliminating losses, heralded promises which stakeholders, including Seán Quinn
, have been waiting patiently to emerge.
The chairman of the company, Raymond Kings, has stated that Brendan Murtagh, the largest shareholder in the company will continue to provide short-term working capital
while longer term funding options are being investigated.
Revenue in the six months to the end of June 30, 2006 dropped 15% to €20.3 million. There was a 61% increase in administrative costs leading to a loss, before exceptional items, of €17.9 million and an operating loss up to €31 million.
, owed €4m by Smart, including arrears of €1.7m, ceased providing wholesale services to Smart Telecom. The result is that the majority of Smart Telecom's customers could not make outgoing calls (except for emergency numbers). According to RTÉ news at the time almost 45,000 customer voice lines were cut off, and Eircom was in the process of disconnecting approximately 17,000 broadband customers. Smart issued a notice on their website stating that full service would be restored as soon as possible but declined to give any date for such a restoration.
Shortly afterward, Communications Minister Noel Dempsey called on Eircom to reconnect a full telephone service to Smart customers.
Comreg has announced an interim measure where phone lines to Smart customers will be reconnected and they will be given the option to join other providers.
In an email to customers on the same day, restoration of telephone and broadband services was announced along with a free upgrade of 3 Mbit/s to all broadband customers for the remainder of 2006 as a token of their appreciation.
in August 2009 with an internal examiner reviewing their debts revenue and business structure. Smart Telecom are currently in debts of up to €70 million to creditors and in. loans.
It is said that Smart have a fair chance of coming out of examinership but also have 2 new investors that would be willing to invest in the company.
Smart Telecom are continuing operations as normal with no effects to any of its customers.
have announced their intention to purchase Smart.
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
telecom operator that started as a phone card seller. It is also the third largest provider of cost-sensitive telecom services sector in Ireland, behind the incumbent operator Eircom
Eircom
Eircom Group LTD is a telecommunications company in the Republic of Ireland, and a former state-owned incumbent. It is currently the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland and operates primarily on the island of Ireland, with a point of presence in Great Britain.As Bord...
and BT Ireland
BT Ireland
BT Communications Limited is a telecommunications and internet company in Ireland. It is a subsidiary of BT Group plc.-Esat Telecom:The company was founded in 1990 by Denis O'Brien, and was originally known as Esat Telecom...
. It currently has an estimated 50,000 land-line customers and 18,000 broadband subscribers. It lost 20,000 land-line customers who reverted to Eircom
Eircom
Eircom Group LTD is a telecommunications company in the Republic of Ireland, and a former state-owned incumbent. It is currently the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland and operates primarily on the island of Ireland, with a point of presence in Great Britain.As Bord...
in 2006. Smart operates several services:
- Point-to-PointPoint-to-Point ProtocolIn networking, the Point-to-Point Protocol is a data link protocol commonly used in establishing a direct connection between two networking nodes...
, Transparent LAN Services and TelephonyTelephonyIn telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....
services across a Resilient Packet RingResilient Packet RingResilient Packet Ring , also known as IEEE 802.17, is a standard designed for the optimized transport of data traffic over optical fiber ring networks...
backbone - Payphones (to 2006)
- BroadbandBroadbandThe term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
Internet Access - FTTH/IPTVIPTVInternet Protocol television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network such as the Internet, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats.IPTV services...
services - Point-to-point Licensed Microwave radio links
Backbone services are available to users in parts of Dublin, Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, Dundalk
Dundalk
Dundalk is the county town of County Louth in Ireland. It is situated where the Castletown River flows into Dundalk Bay. The town is close to the border with Northern Ireland and equi-distant from Dublin and Belfast. The town's name, which was historically written as Dundalgan, has associations...
, Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
, Letterkenny
Letterkenny
Letterkenny , with a population of 17,568, is the largest town in County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. The town is located on the River Swilly...
, Galway
Galway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...
, Sligo
Sligo
Sligo is the county town of County Sligo in Ireland. The town is a borough and has a charter and a town mayor. It is sometimes referred to as a city, and sometimes as a town, and is the second largest urban area in Connacht...
, Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
, Wexford
Wexford
Wexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern corner of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and the national rail network...
, Portlaoise, Mullingar
Mullingar
Mullingar is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act of 1542, proclaimed Westmeath a county, separating it from Meath. Mullingar became the administrative centre for County Westmeath...
, Carlow
Carlow
Carlow is the county town of County Carlow in Ireland. It is situated in the south-east of Ireland, 84 km from Dublin. County Carlow is the second smallest county in Ireland by area, however Carlow Town is the 14th largest urban area in Ireland by population according to the 2006 census. The...
, Cavan
Cavan
Cavan is the county town of County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. The town lies in the north central part of Ireland, near the border with Northern Ireland...
, Drogheda
Drogheda
Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea....
, Killarney
Killarney
Killarney is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is located north of the MacGillicuddy Reeks, on the northeastern shore of the Lough Lein/Leane which are part of Killarney National Park. The town and its surrounding region are home to St...
, Tralee and Clonmel
Clonmel
Clonmel is the county town of South Tipperary in Ireland. It is the largest town in the county. While the borough had a population of 15,482 in 2006, another 17,008 people were in the rural hinterland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked both...
.
Broadband service
At the end of Q 1, 2006 there were 322,000 broadband subscribers in Ireland, 35% of internet subscription. Broadband accounted for 19% of all internet subscriptions.Smart are probably most widely known for its residential broadband services, which launched in early 2005. The initial offering of fast broadband (for the time), which included completely free telephone line rental was considered revolutionary at the time and attracted huge numbers of customers interested in signing up to their service. Smart provides their broadband internet services through a process known as Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), whereby a telecoms company, for an agreed monthly fee to Eircom
Eircom
Eircom Group LTD is a telecommunications company in the Republic of Ireland, and a former state-owned incumbent. It is currently the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland and operates primarily on the island of Ireland, with a point of presence in Great Britain.As Bord...
, the owner of the line, can take complete control of the copper cable running from the customer premises to the local exchange. Smart installs its own equipment in exchanges (a process which has proved to be slow and cumbersome and has caused massive delays in their rollout plan, with only a handful of exchanges currently available). Its broadband internet service uses ADSL2+ broadband technology, which gives them an advantage in that Smart can provide higher speeds to customers, as well as having a longer "range" on the line, allowing customers who previously were unable to get existing ADSL broadband due to being too far from the exchange to sign up to smart for internet. Smart equipment is provided by Huawei-3com, under the Aolynk brand. Smart use the DR814, DR814g and DR814q routers by Aolynk, dependent on the services being deployed (broadband, broadband with wireless router, IPTV etc.). The broadband is provided completely independent of Eircom, using high speed fibre MAN's throughout the country to connect from the local smart enabled exchange to their co-located datacentres across the country. For the telephony part of the broadband LLU service, Smart use VoIP to carry POTS (Plain Old Telephony Service) calls from their exchange to its core network. This has the effect of the smart service being slightly different from traditional POTS services through Eircom, mainly relating to dial tones and telephone ringing patterns.
As well as providing LLU broadband services, Smart provide connectivity to customers through FTTB, otherwise known Fibre To The Basement. Currently, only a very small part of the network, mainly apartment complexes, is FTTB, offering VoIP telephony, high speed broadband and IP Television services through a package known as SmartVision. Smart also provide payphones, which were previously run under the Esat BT brand, before they were sold off during the rebrand of Esat BT to BT Ireland
BT Ireland
BT Communications Limited is a telecommunications and internet company in Ireland. It is a subsidiary of BT Group plc.-Esat Telecom:The company was founded in 1990 by Denis O'Brien, and was originally known as Esat Telecom...
. They also provide a CPS (Carrier Pre Selection) POTS telephony service and leased / dedicated fibre LAN lines for corporate customers.
Recent history
Smart was also a bidder for the Irish mobile operator Meteor following the decision of its parent company to sell all international mobile operators; however on July 21, 2005 it was announced Smart Telecom had withdrawn, leaving the company to be bought by EircomEircom
Eircom Group LTD is a telecommunications company in the Republic of Ireland, and a former state-owned incumbent. It is currently the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland and operates primarily on the island of Ireland, with a point of presence in Great Britain.As Bord...
, the largest telecoms operator in Ireland, and owner of the local loop
Local loop
In telephony, the local loop is the physical link or circuit that connects from the demarcation point of the customer premises to the edge of the carrier or telecommunications service provider's network...
throughout the entire country.
On November 18, 2005 Smart Mobile was offered the country's fourth 3G mobile phone network licence on November 16, 2005 . Vodafone Ireland
Vodafone Ireland
Vodafone Ireland Limited, part of the Vodafone Group, is the largest mobile phone company in Ireland in terms of active subscribers, and was previously called Eircell. The mobile phone system in use is a digital GSM 900 system, and also a third-generation UMTS system...
, O2 Ireland
O2 Ireland
Telefónica Ireland is a broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland. The company is marketed and trades as O2...
and 3 Ireland already had secured a 3G mobile phone network licence. Acceptance of the licence would require Smart Mobile to launch its services by April 30, 2007, with 33 percent demographic coverage by October 31, 2009 and 53 percent coverage by 2011.
The 3G spectrum access fee at €114.3 million, with an annual spectrum fee of €2.2 million and an administrative fee of up to €300,000 a year. Taking on a 3G licence would require substantial capital investment by Smart.
On November 9, 2005 Smart Telecom announced that it had raised €55.2 million in new funding. This involved a placing of new ordinary shares at a price of €0.20 per share and a debt equity conversion of €10.8 million.
But this licence was withdrawn in February 2006 by Comreg due to a failure by Smart to provide a €100 million performance guarantee bond in a form acceptable to it within the specified deadline. There was a significant drop in the companies share price subsequently. Smart is appealing the decision.
Smart Holdings Ltd lost a bid for to sponsor the weather forecast on RTE
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
to Glanbia
Glanbia
Glanbia plc is an international nutritional solutions and cheese group, headquartered in Ireland. Glanbia is listed on the Irish and London Stock Exchange . The Group has four segments; US Cheese & Global Nutritionals, Dairy Ireland, Joint Ventures & Associates and Other Business...
on April 7, 2006. The High Court ruled that its referential bid - based on a formula equivalent to the highest bid received +5% was not valid because RTÉ terms of offer did not permit this.
e-Nvi takeover and MPEG-4 headend
In September 2007, Smart announced their takeover of e-Nvi, a Dublin-based Triple playTriple play (telecommunications)
In telecommunications, triple play service is a marketing term for the provisioning of two bandwidth-intensive services, high-speed Internet access and television, and a less bandwidth-demanding service, telephone, over a single broadband connection. Triple play focuses on a combined business...
provider. It also announced that it was investing in an MPEG-4 headend for its own Triple play
Triple Play
A triple play is a baseball play in which three outs are made as a result of continuous action without any intervening errors between outs.Triple play may also refer to:...
service; the vendor was confirmed as Thomson.net in October 2007.
Problems in 2006
Having head-hunted 49 managers from EircomEircom
Eircom Group LTD is a telecommunications company in the Republic of Ireland, and a former state-owned incumbent. It is currently the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland and operates primarily on the island of Ireland, with a point of presence in Great Britain.As Bord...
to promote and market broadband door-to-door, some as recently as five months earlier, the Chief Executive of Smart Telecom, Oisin Fanning fired 26 of them abruptly on August 31, 2006. This took place in the context of unmet sales targets of 64,000 sign-ups, aggravated by Smart being unable to get its equipment into many Eircom exchanges which meant that Smart had no product to sell in many parts of Ireland.
Smart Telecom (SMR.L) shares traded at 9c in early September 2006, less than two thirds of their floatation price. Sales for 2006 are anticipated to reach €60 million - up from €45 million in 2005. However losses of €23 million in 2005 are anticipated to be eclipsed by losses of €35 million in 2006. Management efforts are predicated on challenging the Eircom monopoly but this requires substantial funds to purchase appropriate telecom exchange equipment. A rights issue of €30 million in 2005 was underwritten by Brendan Murtagh, a Kingscourt
Kingscourt
Kingscourt, historically known as Dunaree , is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. It is located near the Cavan-Meath border and has a population of over 3,000 making it the fourth largest town in Cavan. The town was founded near the site of the old village of Cabra, by Mervyn Pratt, towards the end...
County Cavan
County Cavan
County Cavan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Cavan. Cavan County Council is the local authority for the county...
native who is a director of Smart.
Future prospects will be defined by the achievement of substantial growth in broadband sales volume and eliminating losses, heralded promises which stakeholders, including Seán Quinn
Seán Quinn
Seán Quinn is an Irish businessman and conglomerateur, now bankrupt. In 2008 he was the richest person in Ireland, but he now has debts...
, have been waiting patiently to emerge.
Chief executive resigns
Oisin Fanning, chief executive resigned from this position on September 9, 2006 on health grounds. Further senior resignations are pending. The acting chief executive, Ciaran Casey, is to carry out an in-depth financial review of the company as a further investment of €30 million is sought.The chairman of the company, Raymond Kings, has stated that Brendan Murtagh, the largest shareholder in the company will continue to provide short-term working capital
Working capital
Working capital is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organization or other entity, including governmental entity. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is considered a part of operating capital. Net working capital is...
while longer term funding options are being investigated.
Divesting non-core businesses
Details of a strategic review, published on September 22, 2006 mean that the employee cohort will be cut from 348 to c100, additional loan funding is to be provided by major shareholders and the company will divest its payphone and pre-paid call card businesses so as to focus on its corporate and residential broadband businesses.Revenue in the six months to the end of June 30, 2006 dropped 15% to €20.3 million. There was a 61% increase in administrative costs leading to a loss, before exceptional items, of €17.9 million and an operating loss up to €31 million.
Eircom's termination of service
On October 2, 2006 EircomEircom
Eircom Group LTD is a telecommunications company in the Republic of Ireland, and a former state-owned incumbent. It is currently the largest telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland and operates primarily on the island of Ireland, with a point of presence in Great Britain.As Bord...
, owed €4m by Smart, including arrears of €1.7m, ceased providing wholesale services to Smart Telecom. The result is that the majority of Smart Telecom's customers could not make outgoing calls (except for emergency numbers). According to RTÉ news at the time almost 45,000 customer voice lines were cut off, and Eircom was in the process of disconnecting approximately 17,000 broadband customers. Smart issued a notice on their website stating that full service would be restored as soon as possible but declined to give any date for such a restoration.
Shortly afterward, Communications Minister Noel Dempsey called on Eircom to reconnect a full telephone service to Smart customers.
Comreg has announced an interim measure where phone lines to Smart customers will be reconnected and they will be given the option to join other providers.
Resolution
It was revealed on Friday, 6 October 2006 that BidCo, a company controlled by Brendan Murtagh, its largest shareholder, will purchase all of the company's assets, and will also take on its estimate €40m debt. This will also reportedly allow broadband service to be restored immediately. It has been confirmed Smart will dispose of the "calls only" packages, but will continue to provide call services to broadband customers.In an email to customers on the same day, restoration of telephone and broadband services was announced along with a free upgrade of 3 Mbit/s to all broadband customers for the remainder of 2006 as a token of their appreciation.
Smart Telecom Examinership August 2009
Smart Telecom entered examinershipExaminership
Examinership is a process in Irish law whereby the protection of the Court is obtained to assist the survival of a company. It allows a company to restructure with the approval of the High Court....
in August 2009 with an internal examiner reviewing their debts revenue and business structure. Smart Telecom are currently in debts of up to €70 million to creditors and in. loans.
It is said that Smart have a fair chance of coming out of examinership but also have 2 new investors that would be willing to invest in the company.
Smart Telecom are continuing operations as normal with no effects to any of its customers.
Digiweb Purchase
As of November 2009, the Irish broadband supplier DigiwebDigiweb
Digiweb is a telecommunications company in Ireland, supplying business and consumer broadband and web hosting.Digiweb is 100% Irish owned and run, and is headquartered in Dundalk, County Louth with its technical, installation and sales offices in Dublin....
have announced their intention to purchase Smart.
See also
- Anglo Irish Bank