was the holding company of the broadnet group of companies . broadnet assembled a portfolio of wireless broadband internet licences in europe in the late 1990s and early 2000s . 1 the company marketed its services to other businesses . broadnet holdings bv type private industry telecommunications fate no longer operating founded 1998 headquarters brussels belgium area served germany france spain portugal norway czech republic key people declan ganley ryan wren ceo joseph j. euteneuer cfo owner comcast corporation european telcom holdings website www.broadnet.net defunct contents 1 beginnings 2 technology 3 licence acquisition 4 operations 5 purchase by comcast 6 references 7 see also beginnings edit the genesis of broadnet dates back to 1996 when the irish entrepreneur declan ganley 1 2 3 began purchasing wireless spectrum licences though his company european telecoms holdings . in 1998 comcast corporation invested funds and broadnet holdings bv was formed . following the comcast investment comcast owned 62.5 % of the firm 4 4 and european telcoms holdings owned the remaining 37.5 % . 4 technology edit the company provided broadband internet using wireless spectrum in the 20.8 ghz frequency . the company used radio equipment manufactured by lucent and alcatel to establish point to point connections . the signal was broadcast from radios located on towers or building rooftops . customer facilities would have a smaller radio transmitter . licence acquisition edit by 2000 it obtained spectrum licences in germany france switzerland the czech republic spain portugal and norway . 1 3 it also obtained licences in austria switzerland and greater london . it established companies in other countries for the purpose of bidding on licences but it was not always successful . broadnet bid for a licence in ireland but was beaten by eircom . 2 broadnet sued the telecoms regulator that awarded the licences but settled . 2 operations edit broadnet launched operations in germany france spain portugal norway and the czech republic . some other markets had network infrastructure for regulatory purposes but were never commercially launched . purchase by comcast edit broadnet considered raising around 1bn 3 to roll out broadband services via a flotation 3 or private placing 3 but did not do so . comcast bought out european telcom holding s share to become the sole owner . 5 in 2002 comcast began divesting of its stake . it closed the brussels headquarters and broadnet germany was acquired by mediascape . references edit a b c interview daire o brien prepared to take the broadband picture the sunday times 25 january 2004 a b c doyle to review eircom licence award irish independent thursday 11 may 2000 a b c d e french win for ganley irish independent wednesday 12 july 2000 a b c broadnet beats telenor to norway broadband licence irish independent wednesday 8 march 2000 vodafone acquired broadnet and keep strengthening its position in business segment vodafone press release 3 september 2008 see also edit declan ganley comcast retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title broadnet holdings bv & oldid 716630761 categories organisations based in brusselscompanies of belgium1998 establishments in belgiumholding companies established in 1998hidden categories use dmy dates from november 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 22 april 2016 at 21 06 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view