BT Communications (Ireland) Limited is a
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
and internet company in Ireland. It is a subsidiary of
BT Group plc
BT Group plc ( trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, bro ...
.
History
Esat Telecom
The company was founded in 1990 by a consortium headed by business magnate
Denis O'Brien
Denis O'Brien (born 19 April 1958) is an Irish billionaire businessman, and the founder and owner of Digicel. He was listed among the World's Top 200 Billionaires in 2015 and was Ireland's richest native-born citizen for a period of several ye ...
and was originally known as Esat Telecom. The name Esat, said to be an abbreviation of "Éireann Satellite" and connected to O'Brien's bid for Ireland's communications satellite licence under the 1977 ITU frequency plans, would become much more associated with telecommunications in Ireland, however.
Esat Telecom applied a number of times for a telecommunications licence to the
Department of Communications and was finally granted a limited one in March 1993. The company officially launched its services on 20 April 1994. It was the first domestic competitor to
Bord Telecom Éireann (now
Eircom) and, after initially reselling leased lines from that company, used "autodiallers" to route calls onto its network.
These devices proved controversial, with Telecom Éireann threatening legal action and the Department of Communications contending that these were a breach of Esat's limited licence. However, an Esat complaint to the
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
was upheld, and eventually in 1997, the new
Director of Telecommunications Regulation (now called ComReg) regularised Esat's position by ordering Telecom Éireann to provide a service to switch calls onto Esat's network.
In 1996, Esat Telecom, in conjunction with
Telenor
Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...
AB, bid successfully for the second
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
mobile telecommunications licence, against five other consortia. This became known as Esat Digifone. The
Moriarty Tribunal
The Moriarty Tribunal, officially called the Tribunal of Inquiry into certain Payments to Politicians and Related Matters, was an Irish Tribunal of Inquiry established in 1997 into the financial affairs of politicians Charles Haughey and Michael ...
found in 2008 that the awarding of the licence was influenced by payments made by O'Brien to
Michael Lowry
Michael Lowry (born 13 March 1953) is an Irish Independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) since 1987, currently for the Tipperary constituency. He previously served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications from 1 ...
, the
Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications. On 7 November 1997, ''Esat Telecom Group plc'' held an initial public offering and was listed on the
Irish Stock Exchange
Euronext Dublin (formerly The Irish Stock Exchange, ISE; ga, Stocmhalartán na hÉireann) is Ireland's main stock exchange, and has been in existence since 1793.
The Euronext Dublin lists debt and fund securities and is used as a European g ...
,
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
, and
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
stock market.
Originally the company targeted just corporate customers, but from 1 December 1998, when the Irish telecommunications market was fully deregulated, domestic customers were also targeted, under the ''Esat Clear'' brand name. 1,300 customers signed up before it had even launched. In 1999, Esat entered the
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
market, initially through the purchase of EUnet Ireland, which became Esat Net. However, it was the acquisition of
Ireland On-Line
Ireland On-Line (IOL) is a former ISP in Ireland.
Ireland On-line was the first commercial internet service provider in the state. The company was formed in 1992 by Barry Flanagan, and was reported to have launched "Ireland's first mass-market Int ...
from
An Post that year which made Esat the biggest ISP in the country for a time. Also in 1999, Esat bid for Cablelink Limited, the cable and television company owned jointly by Telecom Éireann and
RTÉ. However,
NTL
NTL may refer to:
Companies
* NTL Incorporated and NTL Internet, later Virgin Media, communications media company
** NTL Ireland, later Virgin Media Ireland
* Arqiva, UK company formerly ''NTL Broadcast'' and ''National Transcommunications L ...
won.
In 1999, Esat Telecom was the first wholly owned Irish company to lay two optical submarine cables between Ireland and the UK. No other company had achieved such a milestone and since then, only operators from outside the state have managed to install their own optical submarine cables.
Esat BT
In 1999, relations became tense between Esat and
Telenor
Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...
over how Esat Digifone, their mobile joint venture, should be operated. Telenor tried to remove Denis O'Brien as chairman of Esat Digifone and remove the Esat name from the company. Esat for its part retaliated by threatening to sue Telenor, and making repeated offers to buy the Norwegian company out. Eventually, in November 1999, Telenor bid for the entire share capital of Esat Telecom Group plc as a way of solving the situation. The bid was rejected by the Esat board and so became a
hostile takeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...
attempt. To defend this, in January 2000, British Telecommunications plc (now
BT Group plc
BT Group plc ( trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, bro ...
) made a friendly takeover offer for the company which was backed by the Esat board. Esat became a wholly owned subsidiary of BT and was delisted from the stock market.
When BT acquired Esat, they began integrating the business along with its
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
subsidiary, BT (NI). The combined unit was then registered as BT Communications (Ireland) Limited.
The company's main business is in fixed line telecommunications where it owns its own network in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
and owns a network built along the
Iarnród Éireann rail network in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
and along the road which complements its rail network. The network build phase started in August 1997 and it also leases capacity from its fixed line incumbent,
Eircom.
Following the company's acquisition by BT, Esat Telecom was rebranded as Esat BT in 2002, and replaced its own logo with the BT piper.
BT Ireland
In late 2004, it was announced from April 2005, the name of the company would change from "Esat BT" to just "BT Ireland". The company has performed well, winning some high-profile corporate clients. However,
Eircom still commands over a 73% share of fixed-line telecommunications in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
.
All company names in the Esat BT Group were officially re-registered with the
Companies Registration Office as BT in March 2005, and on 12 April, the company was officially rebranded as "BT Ireland".
On 22 July 2009, BT Ireland agreed to transfer most of its consumer and small business operations in Ireland, other than its remaining
dial-up internet operations, to
Vodafone Ireland
Vodafone Ireland Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Vodafone Group, is a mobile phone network and broadband provider in the Republic of Ireland. It was created when the Vodafone Group bought Eircell, the mobile arm of Telecom Éireann. ...
. Large industrial and commercial customers will remain with BT. Under the partnership, Vodafone will provide voice and broadband internet services over BT's network. The deal was subject to the Competition Authority's approval, which was approved in August 2009.
BT Ireland do not own any infrastructure in Northern Ireland, being owned by BT Group (UK) directly.
Esat Digifone
Esat Digifone
Telefónica Ireland was a broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland that traded under the O2 brand (typeset as O2). O2 Ireland was previously called Esat Digifone when it was owned by Esat Telecommunications (and Telenor) from 1997 ...
, a GSM mobile phone network which was the first competitor to
Eircell
Eircell was an Irish mobile cellular network provider which was established in 1984, with operations commencing in 1986. Its access code was 088 for the original analogue TACS system and 087 for the later GSM system. Following the abolition of th ...
(then a
Telecom Éireann
Telecom Éireann (; meaning "Telecommunications of Ireland") was an Irish state-owned telecommunications company that operated from 1983 to 1999. Prior to then a telephone and postal service was provided by the Department of Posts and Telegraph ...
subsidiary) was originally a joint venture between Esat Telecom and
Telenor
Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...
, however when Esat was sold to BT, the mobile division became part of BT Wireless, which was eventually spun off as
O2 plc
O2 (typeset as O2) is a global brand name owned by the Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica. The company uses the O2 brand for its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Germany. Since 2018, it is also used as an online-only flanker br ...
, which in turn was bought by Spanish-based
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
in 2005 (EU approved in 2006).
The company is now officially registered as
Telefónica O2 Ireland Limited, but trades as O
2. In June 2013, Hutchison Whampoa announced it would acquire the Irish arm of O2 for €780m. O2 is now merged with Hutchison Whampoa's subsidiary Three Ireland following the completion of the sale.
See also
*
List of Irish companies
This is a list of notable companies based in Ireland, or subsidiaries according to their sector. It includes companies from the entire island. The state of the Republic of Ireland covers five-sixths of the island, with Northern Ireland, part of th ...
*
Communications in Ireland
Telecommunications in Ireland operate in a regulated competitive market that provides customers with a wide array of advanced digital services. This article explores Ireland's telecommunications infrastructure including: fixed and mobile networks ...
*
BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition
The BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, commonly called the Young Scientist Exhibition, is an Irish annual school students' science competition that has been held in the Royal Dublin Society, Dublin, Ireland, every January since the co ...
References
Sources
*
External links
BT IrelandBT Northern Ireland
{{BT Group
Irish companies established in 1990
BT Group
Telecommunications companies of the Republic of Ireland
Internet service providers of the Republic of Ireland
Telecommunications companies established in 1990