THE CEO OF the Web Summit, Paddy Cosgrave, said the largest tech event in Europe could be out of Ireland because of dodgy WiFi.
The trouble started from the very first morning of the summit and continued on and off over the three day event.
Addressing the crowd on the main stage today, Cosgrave expressed his disappointment with the WiFi over the past few days:
I’m looking forward to a time when I can stand here and ask ‘Is there a problem with the WiFi?’ and nobody raises their hand and I believe that time will be 2015 or otherwise we won’t be in this country very much longer.
Cosgrave blamed the RDS saying it failed to provide an acceptable level of broadband.
CEO of the RDS, Michael Duffy, said 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.
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.
Around 22,000 people attended the event which is worth an estimated €100 million to the Irish economy.
Cosgrave added, “I just hope to God next year is a little bit better and I’m really really sorry for those of you who have been in here who have been unable to get WiFi for three solid days.”
In a statement this evening the CEO did thank the RDS saying the event was ‘the best yet’.
“Notwithstanding Wi-Fi issues, the RDS is a great venue…We look forward to building upon our success for 2015.”
The event is being closed tonight by U2 frontman Bono who spoke to the crowd about the decision for U2 to give out their latest album free on iTunes, saying:
We got people who were uninterested in U2 to be mad at U2. I think that’s an improvement in the relationship.
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