Esat Digifone
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry |
Telecommunications Broadband Internet access |
| Fate | Acquired by Three (3) (2014) |
| Predecessor |
|
| Successor | Three Ireland (Hutchison) Limited |
| Founded | Ireland (1997) |
| Founder | Esat Telecom Group |
| Defunct | 2 March 2015 |
| Headquarters | 28–29 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin, Ireland |
|
Area served
|
Republic of Ireland |
| Brands | 48 Months |
| Revenue |
 €905 million (2009)
|
|
Number of employees
|
1,787 (2006) |
| Parent |
|
| Website | www |
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 to 2006.
O2 Ireland became a subsidiary of Telefónica in 2006, after its parent company O2 in the United Kingdom was purchased. In June 2013, Hutchison Whampoa announced it would acquire the Irish arm of O2 for €780m. O2 was merged into Hutchison Whampoa's subsidiary Three Ireland in March 2015.
In 1995 the then government, with Michael Lowry as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, authorised a second mobile phone network, to compete with Eircell owned by the semi-state Telecom Éireann. The licence was awarded to Esat Digifone, a joint venture between Denis O'Brien's company Esat Telecommunications and Norway's Telenor, which began operations in 1997. The Moriarty Tribunal found in 2008 that the awarding of the licence was influenced by payments made to Lowry by O'Brien.
In 1999, Esat Telecom and Telenor began to dispute how Esat Digifone should be operated. Telenor removed the word Esat from the companies name, and began the attempted removal of Denis O'Brien as chairman of Digifone. Esat Telecom retaliated by threatening to take legal action against Telenor, and make repeated offers to buy Telenor's share of Digifone.
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Wikipedia