BlueWave has completed building its 40-metre communications tower at the top of Carnane, Douglas.

The mast is part of what the telecoms firm says is its ’substantial investment’ in freehold infrastructure to increase bandwidth, reach and resilience of its services.

The company intends to keep the shorter, existing tower for free-of-charge use by schools and innovators to deploy ’internet of things’ services. The company says the mast is a sign of its commitment to investing in the Isle of Man’s telecoms and internet infrastructure.

A spokesman said BlueWave bought the former BBC transmitter site in 2019 as it offered a huge wireless reach, able to reach most of the Douglas population from its location. The tower completion coincides with the establishment of ’ManxIX’, the island’s new internet exchange. as reported last month in Business News.

(An internet exchange can be described as a way in which internet service providers and content delivery networks exchange internet traffic between their networks.)

BlueWave has increased and upgraded its on-island network to improve its resilience and adding extra ’core’ sites to expand its island footprint.

Professor Adam Beaumont, chief executive of BlueWave said: ’The Carnane site plays a key part in our support to drive an increase in the potential bandwidth and connectivity available to our customers and expand our business-to-business offering.

’It will also be a key location for ManxIX. We want to enable tomorrow’s digital-intensive businesses to afford to operate from the island and there’s opportunity for everyone.’

Matthew Sayle, founding director and head of Infrastructure of BlueWave, said: ’We’re committed to support the island’s local economy on a global stage by digitally empowering the partners who work with us.

’The tower is our first, but significant step in rolling out a new island-wide network to allow us to further improve our independent capability.’

Laurence Skelly MHK, Minister for Enterprise, said: ’BlueWave has always been an ambitious company and this investment shows the company’s commitment to making communications on the Isle of Man better than it ever has been before. We can see it’s an exciting time for BlueWave and one will bring many benefits to the island’s future.’