By Business & Finance 
Liam O Kelly, CEO of AirSpeed Telecom, the leading provider of integrated licensed wireless with fibre telecommunications services to businesses in Ireland, has won the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ category at the European Business Awards, which took place last night in Athens, Greece.
The awards ceremony was attended by business leaders, academics, media and political representatives from across Europe. Over 17,000 businesses entered the awards, representing €1trn in revenue, and AirSpeed Telecom was one of just four Irish companies to make the 100 Ruban d’Honneur finalists for each of the ten award categories.
The European Business Awards, sponsored by RSM International, recognises and rewards excellence, best practice and innovation in companies across the European Union. The competition is open to organisations of all sizes and from any industry sector. The 100 Ruban d’Honneur finalists were chosen from 375 national champions from 30 countries by an esteemed panel of judges made up of European business, academics, entrepreneurs and political leaders, including Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment.
Within the Entrepreneur of the Year category, judges were looking for visionaries who are instrumental in the success of a business and whose tireless approach to enterprise expansion places them at the crux of the business. Understanding objectives, formulating ideas and making decisions are part and parcel of the role. The award seeks to recognise those special traits that make successful entrepreneurs so inspiring.
Liam O’ Kelly, CEO of AirSpeed Telecom, said: “We were extremely proud to reach the Ruban d’Honneur stage of the European Business Awards and to represent Ireland. Being honoured with the Entrepreneur of the Year award is a tremendous achievement and recognises the hard work, focus and enthusiasm of the entire AirSpeed Telecom team. Demonstrating our ability to grow the business by 40% annually over the past few years, while maintaining consistently high levels of service and value for our customers, was a key factor in securing this win. Gaining recognition of that achievement from such a high calibre judging panel represents a significant endorsement for our business.”
Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards said: “Our worthy winners in 2013/14 are the top ten companies that have excelled in their country and their industry. They are shaping the face of European business and ensuring Europe maintains its position as a leading player on the global business stage. Huge congratulations to AirSpeed Telecom for their success.”
AirSpeed Telecom is one of Ireland’s leading telecommunications firms for large enterprises, public sector bodies and SME businesses in Ireland. Specialists in uncontended, symmetrical broadband services, AirSpeed Telecom offer high capacities, up to multi – Gigabit level, to business customers. Core to the company’s success is the continuing investment in its nationwide network with the introduction of a new range of innovative telecommunications services to support its business customers.
AirSpeed Telecom employs 47 at offices in Dublin (Citywest) and Cork (CIT Campus). Clients include RTE, TG4, HEANet, Dairygold, NCSS (BreastCheck), St John of Gods Hospitaller Services, Irish Distillers, United Drug, Eurolink and Vhi Healthcare. AirSpeed Telecom operates a Network Management Centre which provides customers with a pro-actively managed 24 x 7 x 365 service.
This is the second major award won by AirSpeed Telecom over the past week. The company, in partnership with enet, Ireland’s open access network operator, won the Project of the Year (SME) category at the recent 2014 Tech Excellence Awards. The award was received in recognition of the establishment of Claremorris in Co. Mayo as Ireland’s ‘First Fibre Town’. enet is investing €0.5m in a broadband infrastructure In Claremorris which will allow AirSpeed Telecom to offer 250Mbs broadband connectivity to every business in the community, providing high performance bandwidth, high speed internet, voice and video.
