IRELAND’S DATA networks are getting a boost, with increased investment and new technologies helping to deliver more bandwidth to and from these shores.

While consumers may not see a noticeable difference, multinationals and other large companies doing business here certainly will.

It’s at this sector that companies such as Colt and EUNetworks are aiming their services. The latter this week announced it had invested in an 8.8-terrabyte network between London and Dublin, allowing it to link the two cities and deliver services from Dublin to Europe.

Earlier this month, Colt said a new extension to its high-capacity network between London and Dublin was fully operational and ready to contribute to an increase in traffic capability for its customers.

It all adds up to better services for business – lower latency, higher speed capacity and faster information delivery over the network, and even lower costs in some cases.

Neither company revealed exactly how much the investment had cost. Colt, which specialises in business telecoms services, is investing in its network around Europe. The extension is part of a multimillion euro  million investment in the region over five years that includes up to €50 million in network expalnsion, €250 million to grow its data centre services and up to €120 million into service portfolio enhancements.

EUNetworks declined to put a figure on the 8.8 terrabyte network, but said it was “significant”.

It’s a far cry from the days when high bandwidth connectivity was only a distant dream for businesses.

The investment may come as a surprise to some, given the economic downturn and subsequent cost cutting that has become the reality for many businesses.

Vice president of product and strategy at EUNetworks David Selby said was it a matter of traditional telecoms economics.

“The more you invest into owned assets, the more your operating costs will decrease on a per unit basis,” he said.

Prior to this, the company used third-party firms to deliver the service between London and Dublin – this move gives EUNetworks, which has 13 high-capacity networks around Europe, more control.

The development of the market isn’t just good for the telecoms industry, it’s good news for Ireland as a whole, says Gary Keogh, director of Colt.

“There’s a strong statement of confidence in the Irish economy, and its ability to prosper in the inward investment space, in the push for faster, more robust networks,” he says, with multinationals continuing to invest here.

“We continue to attract new organisations into Ireland. That’s a very positive message with continued investment across the industry.”

Data bandwidth is growing exponentially every year, Keogh says, with demand being driven by the globalisation of the internet and the consumerisation of the industry.

As smartphones and tablets become an increasing part of people’s lives, the explosion in sales of such devices is going to push data usage – and bandwidth demand – even higher.

“Data bandwidth is becoming an essential utility, no different to electricity or gas,” he says.

“It’s critical that our telecoms infrastructure in Ireland is equal to or better to that of the rest of Europe, so we’re not impeded by what we can offer.”

For companies that operate across Europe, it’s important the same level of service can be offered to customers regardless of their location.

That often involves collaboration with other service providers, with different companies relying on third party firms to provide the “last mile” links in areas where it is economically unviable for them to provide such services.

There are exciting times ahead too. The market is only at its medium maturity, says Selby.

“There obviously was a lot of investment in the last 10 to 15 years,” he says, citing a large number of blue chip companies investing in data centres here, driving bandwidth.

That demand has tailed off slightly as limitation with connectivity into Europe pushed up the costs for firms. Although there is still activity in the market, he expects a resurgence in the coming years.

The popularity of cloud applications could also help push demand from businesses, as they reassess how their IT needs are met at an enterprise level.

“We believe that what we do is something that fits well within the IT challenge that a CIO has now,” says Selby.

But it is with the consumer that the real drive for more bandwidth could happen. “The acceleration of bandwidth will really happen through the consumer, whether it’s wireless, mobile or home networks,” says Selby.

“The more bandwidth you enable a consumer to have, the more they’ll use. It means more applications and more ways to deliver content to users.”

* This article was amended on July 19th, 2012 to correct an error