Esat Telecom
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BT Communications (Ireland) Limited is a telecommunications and internet company in Ireland. It is a subsidiary of BT Group plc.


History


Esat Telecom

The company was founded in 1990 by a consortium headed by business magnate Denis O'Brien 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 Eircom Limited, trading as Eir ( ; stylised eir), is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The now privatised company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former ...
) 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 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 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, 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 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 (; literally 'The Post') is the state-owned provider of postal services in Ireland. An Post provides a "universal postal service" to all parts of the country as a member of the Universal Postal Union. Services provided include letter post, p ...
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 (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
. However, NTL 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 attempt. To defend this, in January 2000, British Telecommunications plc (now BT Group plc) 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 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 and owns a network built along the
Iarnród Éireann Iarnród Éireann () or Irish Rail, is the operator of the national railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal InterCity, Commuter, DART and fr ...
rail network in the Republic of Ireland 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 Eircom Limited, trading as Eir ( ; stylised eir), is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The now privatised company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former ...
. 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 Eircom Limited, trading as Eir ( ; stylised eir), is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The now privatised company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former ...
still commands over a 73% share of fixed-line telecommunications in the Republic of Ireland. 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 Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a telephone number on a conventional telepho ...
internet operations, to Vodafone Ireland. 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, a GSM mobile phone network which was the first competitor to Eircell (then a Telecom Éireann 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 in 2005 (EU approved in 2006). The company is now officially registered as
Telefónica O2 Ireland Telefónica Ireland was a internet access, broadband and telecommunications provider in Republic of Ireland, Ireland that traded under the O2 (brand), O2 brand (typeset as O2). O2 Ireland was previously called Esat Digifone when it was owned by ...
Limited, but trades as O2. 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 * Communications in Ireland *
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 ...


References


Sources

*


External links


BT Ireland

BT 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