BT Ireland

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Esat" redirects here. For people with that name, see Esat (name).

BT Ireland
BT Group
WebsiteBT Ireland

BT Communications (Ireland) Limited is a

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

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 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

NASDAQ stock market.[citation needed
]

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 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 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

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.[1][2]

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

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.[3]

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[when?] commands over a 73% share of fixed-line telecommunications in the Republic of Ireland.[citation needed
]

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".[citation needed
]

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. Large industrial and commercial customers will remain with BT. Under the partnership, Vodafone will provide voice and broadband internet services over BT's network.[4] The deal was subject to the Competition Authority's approval, which was approved in August 2009.[5]

BT Ireland do not own any infrastructure in Northern Ireland, being owned by BT Group (UK) directly.[citation needed]

Esat Digifone

Main article:
O2 Ireland

Telefónica O2 Ireland Limited, but trades as O2. In June 2013, Hutchison Whampoa announced it would acquire the Irish arm of O2 for €780m.[citation needed] O2 is now merged with Hutchison Whampoa's subsidiary Three Ireland following the completion of the sale.[citation needed
]

See also

  • List of Irish companies
  • Communications in Ireland
  • BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition

References

  1. ^ Smyth, Patrick. "Takeover of Esat by BT given go-ahead". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  2. ^ "BT launches £1.5bn Esat rescue". the Guardian. 12 January 2000. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  3. ^ Smyth, Jamie. "Esat BT finally changes its name to BT Ireland". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  4. ^ "not-found". Btireland.ie. Retrieved 17 October 2019.[dead link]
  5. ^ "BT/Vodafone Ireland Deal Approved". LightReading. 26 August 2009. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Spain's Telefonica to buy O2". The Register.
  7. ^ "EC waves through O2 buy-out". The Register.

Sources

  • O'Kelly, Brendan (2001). The Esat Story. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.

External links

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