Eircell was an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
cellular network provider which was established in 1984, with operations commencing in 1986. Its access code was 088 for the original analogue
TACS
Total Access Communication System (TACS) and ETACS are variants of Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) which were announced as the choice for the first two UK national cellular systems in February 1983, less than a year after the UK government an ...
system and 087 for the later
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 ...
system. Following the abolition of the Department of Post and Telegraphs, Eircell fell under the remit of Telecom Éireann (Later Eircom), which today is known as Eir. The Eircell brand became defunct in 2002 following its acquisition by
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
. From 2001, Eircell underwent a major branding exercise after its acquisition by the Vodafone group in December 2000. The main branding was to associate a shade of deep purple with the company. When Vodafone rebranded with its trademark shade of red, the company commented that "red is the new purple". The company was known as Eircell-Vodafone for some time as the process took nine months in total.
History
Early stages of Eircell
In the late 1980s, early adopters of the service numbered in their hundreds rather than thousands and paid handsomely for the phones that were available at the time through a network of independent retailers. The price for mobile phones ranged from IR£1500 to IR£2000 and 'subscribers' were typically politicians or wealthy businessmen. The market-leading phone manufacturers in the early years of the Irish market were
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
and
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
.
Popularity of the company rises
In response to negative publicity about security compromises on the TACS system during the early 1990s, Eircell introduced Ireland's first encrypted cellular phone called a Kokusai and it retailed in the region of IR£1400. Sales were poor partly because Eircell was not in the business of selling phones and because switching from encrypted to unencrypted was 'messy'. As phone prices dropped and the network rolled out to more of Ireland, sales took off reaching a milestone 100,000 subscribers by 1995 and in 1997, Eircell launched Ireland's first prepaid mobile phone service which was called 'Ready To Go'. A year later, it launched its
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 ...
900 networks (access code 087) which quickly took hold as users rapidly switched over to the new digital technology.
See also
*
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 ...
*
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. A ...
References
External links
Official site (Vodafone, Ireland)*
ttp://www.business2000.ie/pdf/pdf_3/eircell_3rd_ed.pdf Business2000.ie - Eircell Case Study
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Mobile telecommunications networks