yesh! <arm pump>
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/reuters/REU19990706S0001
Ireland Unveils Major E-Commerce Drive
(07/06/99, 6:17 a.m. ET)
By Reuters
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern outlined on Monday several major new planks
in the government's strategy for making Ireland a hub of e-commerce, a global
business he said could be worth $850 billion by 2002.
"We in Ireland fully recognize the critical importance of an
e-commerce-friendly environment if we are to retain existing overseas
investment and compete for and attract the new digital industries of
tomorrow," Ahern said in a statement.
The prime minister announced an agreement had been reached with U.S.
fiber-optic networks company Global Crossing to supply an Internet-ready
global "superhighway" to Ireland by mid-2000.
Under the $80 million contract, Global Crossing will offer ownership rights
on overcapacity on the network after provision to Ireland of 25 gigabytes of
capacity to America and onwards to 24 European cities.
"This project will enable us to provide up to 15 times the current
international capacity out of Ireland at one-tenth the existing unit cost
levels," Ahern said.
The network would make the country an integral part of a world-class
communications chain, he said.
The prime minister also announced the agreement of nine contracts for the
rollout of broadband infrastructure to more than 120 centers throughout
Ireland.
Companies involved included Esat Telecom, Ocean, and CMI.