Phone firm rings up more jobs

Mobile phones are becoming increasingly popular

A Belfast-based mobile phone software company is creating 97 additional jobs as part of a £3.2m expansion plan.

Aepona, which currently employs 120 people, hopes to almost double its workforce within the next two years.

The investment is backed by the Industrial Development Board.

Sir Reg Empey, minister for enterprise, trade, and investment in Northern Ireland made the announcement at the company's headquarters at the Interpoint Centre on Thursday.

He said Northern Ireland could be a global centre of excellence for the development of software services for the next generation mobile phone networks.

These networks allow much greater amounts of information to be communicated across the wireless Internet.

Mobile phone technology is advancing rapidly

Sir Reg added: "This significant investment highlights a company which is implementing an aggressive growth strategy and providing 97 new jobs over the next two years, to enable it to develop the exciting business opportunities which lie ahead in the fast moving mobile phone technology."

He said that the announcement would "help ensure that Belfast became a world leader" in technology.

He said the "first rate software people available in Northern Ireland" had "played a very important role in contributing to Aepona's rapid acceleration".

Established in Belfast in October 1999, Aepona Ltd was created from the services division of Apion following a £150m acquisition of Apion's WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) product division by American company Phone.com.

Training of staff

The company currently employs 120 people in Belfast and Dublin.

Aepona's managing director Liam McQuillan said the investment would be used to expand the company's capability in third generation networks.

"At Aepona we place the utmost importance on the development and training of our staff in strategic software technologies.

"It is this which helps keep us at the world's leading edge and will facilitate our success in a very competitive growing market."

Aepona has clients in the Far East, North American and Europe.