O2 Ireland is a GSM mobile telecommunications operator in the Republic of Ireland. It is a subsidiary of O2 plc.
The company was originally a joint venture between Esat Telecom Group and Telenor, and was originally known as Esat Digifone. In 1997, it became the second company to be awarded a GSM licence. In 2000 BT took over Esat Telecom (at the same time, taking over the Telenor shareholding in Digifone) and later demerged the mobile unit from the fixed line system which is now called Esat BT. For a brief period the company was simply called Digifone, but following the spin off of mmO2 from BT, the company was renamed O2 Ireland.
Currently the company is the second largest mobile phone operator in the Republic of Ireland with approximately 40% market share or 1.27 million customers (see communications in Ireland). The company's STD prefix is 086, but following the introduction of full number portability, some O2 numbers may now feature 087 or 085 prefixes.
The company provides GPRS services under the O2 Active brand. The company holds a UMTS licence, but currently does not market UMTS services. It plans to launch UMTS in 2005.
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Last updated: 10-14-2005 00:12:22
