At least the marketing men and some lawyers made money: two mobile phone companies sold, Eircom bundled off and three applicants for 3G licences. Not what anyone would call a quiet year in the Irish telecoms market.
Ireland has seen the sale of Eircell to Vodafone, the sale of Esat Digifone to British Telecom and the sale of the Eircom fixed line business to the Valentia consortium chaired by Tony O’Reilly. With Vodafone and O2 fully engaged in rebranding and marketing campaigns, all focus now shifts to Ireland’s 3G competition.
