VoIP Ireland, a start-up telecoms firm, has raised an extra €1 million from its original investors to help it develop a joint venture in Waterford.

The firm, chaired by the former acting chief executive of the Railway Procurement Agency, said yesterday it was developing a Wi-Fi system that would enable people to use their home phones on the move.

Wi-Fi is a wireless technology that allows people connect to the internet at very high speeds over short distances. It is anticipated that, in towns such as Lismore, the joint venture will build a mesh of Wi-Fi hotspots to enable people to use voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology, which sends voice calls over the internet at very low cost rather than using the existing public telephone network that is more expensive.

Brian Powell, managing director of VoIP Ireland, said the firm would form a joint venture partnership with Ardmore Technologies and US consortium OB1 Wireless to develop the system. He said the firm would use VoIP's existing "soft switching" technology to carry calls made on the system.

The firm also plans to relaunch its website next week and offer consumers software to download that will enable them to make VoIP calls.

Mr Powell said the firm was eager to grow its customer base, which already includes Government-owned enterprise centres. Investors include management and staff at the firm, Mr Powell, Donal Mangan, Mary Hand and Michael Maher.