MCI to provide low cost service

MCI WorldCom is to provide a new Internet service which it says will be faster, cheaper and will offer twice the capacity of the combined bandwidth of all existing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Ireland.

The company is to offer the service through UUNET, a wholly-owned subsidiary. It means that ISPs will not have to link to the US or Britain for Internet services.

MCI WorldCom Ireland's chief executive, Mr Sean Melly, said having a point of presence in Dublin meant that it could now offer greater service at lower cost.

He said it had spent $2 million (£1.4 million) to extend the international UUNET backbone here. Customers could now approach WorldCom directly. "Until now, if you wanted a high speed internet connection to Britain or the US, you had to lease your own circuits from Ireland to the Internet link there," he said. "Now you can do away with the cost of renting the international bandwidth, by coming directly through our switch in Dublin," he said.

Mr Melly said a two megabit circuit from Dublin to London costs £160,000 a year. "We can get a £20,000 connection to our switch in Dublin," he said.

WorldCom's internet clients include Indigo, PostGem and Telecom Eireann.

UUNET has more than 1,000 points of presence in 100 countries around the world. It provides wholesale services to ISPs and direct services to companies.