The head of the Web Summit has threatened to pull the event out of Ireland unless the WiFi problems which have dogged the event are resolved.
Paddy Cosgrave said the RDS has failed to provide an acceptable level of broadband for an event which is worth an estimated €100 million for the Irish economy. There was widespread disruption on the Summit's opening day, which continued at fluctuating levels of service throughout the remaining two days.
The Summit will be brought to a close this evening by U2 frontman Bono.
Speaking on the main stage this afternoon, Web Summit Founder Paddy Cosgrave said the conference may not return if the Wifi issues are not resolved by next year.
“I just hope to god next year is a little bit better and I’m really, really sorry to those of you in here who have been unable to get Wifi for three solid days," Cosgrave said.
“I’m looking forward to a time when I can stand here and I believe that time will be 2015, otherwise we won’t be in this country very much longer.”
He continued: “Notwithstanding Wi-Fi issues, the RDS is a great venue. The RDS has worked with us to grow this event to become the biggest tech event in Europe. We look forward to building upon our success for 2015. The event has been the best yet, with over 20,000 influential technology enthusiasts enjoying the three day Summit.”
Michael Duffy, CEO, RDS said “The Web Summit is a phenomenally successful event, of significant importance to this country and one with which we are extremely proud to partner. As such, we are delighted to host the event. Notwithstanding this, the Web Summit is an entirely unique technology event which, and as with any technology event of this scale, does present certain unique challenges, due to the large numbers in attendance and the unprecedented demands on the Wi-Fi and network systems, aligned to extremely high volumes of devices concurrently accessing the network.
"Moving forward, the organizers of the Web Summit and ourselves will work in close partnership to ensure that this remains the world class technology event that it has become. We are 100% committed to working hand in hand with the Web Summit team in order to ensure that these issues are resolved, by whatever means required, ahead of the next event in 2015.”
