North Rock Communications is toasting five years in business with an Internet service boost.

The company also announced yesterday a new customer service facility on Washington Lane and a new year addition of local phone calls to its list of services.

North Rock is currently implementing a new highspeed broadband wireless service which allows customers to use the Internet at the same time as the telephone with only one line.

By the end of the year this service will be available to 85 percent of the Island.

Customers living in those areas will be able to upgrade their existing Internet service by buying a wireless broadband radio box.

North Rock general manager, Tom Coelho, said that North Rock had come a long way since its beginning as a small Bermudian start-up Internet service provider (ISP).

“We are no longer just an ISP,” said Mr. Coelho at yesterday's Press conference.

“We are a Telecommunications Company offering a complete range of data, voice, wireless and E-commerce products and services including Wireless Broadband for both business and residential markets, 2020-321 Long Distance calling, DSL Internet Access, and Co-location hosting solutions.”

Mr. Coelho said that in the early days of the company the only employees at North Rock were himself, the account administrator Theresa Pavey Roban, and chief engineer Sean Watkins.

The company has now grown to 20 staff in two facilities at Jardine House and Washington Lane. “We are ecstatic about what North Rock has accomplished in the last five years,” said Mr. Coelho, making particular mention of the engineering team.

He said that by using both Cablevision and Telecom Bermuda as international carriers, two Network Operation Centres in Bermuda and a state-of-the-art network using fibre, laser, wireless and traditional copper, North Rock hoped to virtually eliminate any possibility of downtime and provide a “rock solid” Internet service to its customers.