2007 - The Year Of Mergers?

Last year was an interesting year for the broadband market in Ireland. Early in the year there was the takeover (again) of Eircom, while in the autumn Smart imploded. What will happen in 2007? In the latter half of 2006 there were plenty of rumours regarding mergers and acquisitions in the ISP market. Since most of the ISPs are making a loss some level of consolidation is inevitable, though what form it will take is another matter. Rumours of who is likely to takeover Smart are still in the air, though there doesn't seem to have been any further progress on its supposed merger with Imagine. NTR owns a sizeable shareholding in Irish Broadband (IBB). While the company may have improved its customer service over the last few months it's still not profitable according to some media reports and maybe sold. Rumours abound that Clearwire maybe a potential buyer.