(Redirected from
Esat BT)
BT Communications Ireland Limited, (formerly Esat Telecommunications Limited), is a telecommunications and internet company in the Republic of Ireland. It is a subsidary of BT Group plc.
The company's main business is in fixed line business in Ireland - services such as internet access, prepaid accounts and cards for voice. The company's main network is built along the Iarnród Éireann rail network, completed in 1999, and while it does not currently install telephone lines its main competitor is Eircom. BT Ireland owns the ISP Ireland On-Line. BT has recently begun offering "single billing" accounts to residential customers, meaning they no longer need a fixed-line account with Eircom to access services.
Digifone
Esat Digifone, a GSM mobile phone network which was the first competitor to Eircell (then an Eircom susbidary) was originally a joint venture between Esat Telecom and Telenor, however when Esat was sold to BT, the mobile division became part of BT Wireless, which was evenutally spun off as mmO2.
History
The company was founded in the early 1990s by Denis O'Brien, and was originally known as Esat Telecom. It was the first domestic competitor to Eircom, and used "autodiallers" to route calls onto its network. Originally the company targeted just corporate customers, however later domestic customers were also targeted (initally as Esat Clear). From 1996 until 2000, the company was (as Esat Telecom Group plc) listed on the Irish Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and New York Stock Exchange.
Following the company's acquistion by BT Group plc, the company was rebranded as Esat BT, and replaced its own logo with the BT piper. (Ironically, BT itself dropped the piper logo shortly after, meaning that Esat BT also used a different logo to its parent).
It was announced in late 2004 that from April 2005, the name of the company would change from "Esat BT" to just "BT". It was expected that the name might cause a little controversy, because the ultimate holding company of the BT Group was until 2002 British Telecommunications plc, and from 1980 until 1991 the group traded as "British Telecom". Companies containing the words "Britain" or "British" often receive some hostility because it can be interpreted as the company counting the UK and Republic of Ireland as one whole, which is disliked by many people in the Republic of Ireland.
All company names in the Esat BT Group were offically re-registered with the Companies Registration Office, Ireland as BT in March 2005. On 11 April 2005 the company offically rebranded to BT Ireland.
See also
External link
Test change
Last updated: 10-29-2005 02:13:46
