Vodafone buys Perlico

ion enables Vodafone to offer consumers a complete range of mobile, fixed-line and broadband communications services in Ireland. Financial details were not given.

The combined businesses will comprise 2.2 million subscribers from Vodafone and 62,500 from Perlico, of which 25,000 are broadband subscribers. Perlico will be a subsidiary of Vodafone, and is expected to launch as an MVNO brand in the next few months.

Perlico chief executive Iain MacDonald said: “Perlico and Vodafone represent a compelling combination. We will continue to provide the Irish consumer with the attributes which have made Perlico a success – value, choice and award-winning service.”

Vodafone Ireland chief executive Charles Butterworth added: “Perlico represents a compelling strategic fit for Vodafone Ireland. The acquisition brings Vodafone a significant step closer to our objective to provide a complete communications service to our customers – including mobile, fixed line voice, broadband and internet services.

“It will allow customers, of both Vodafone and Perlico, the opportunity to choose the communications mix that best suits them.”

Tesco Mobile aims for the immigrant vote

Ireland’s first MVNO, Tesco Mobile, unveiled its strategy to capture the country’s extensive immigrant community last week with point-of-sale material and handsets capable of displaying up to 40 different languages.

Tesco Mobile’s entry-level handset, the Nokia 1200 (pictured), has gone on sale for €40 (£28) and comes in Polish, Russian, Romanian and a range of other languages to accommodate the country’s rapidly growing immigrant population.

According to Ireland’s latest census figures, there are 420,000 foreign nationals living in Ireland, constituting 10 per cent of the population.

Tesco Mobile chief executive Tom Britten said the company would also launch different language versions of its website to complement the service.

3 given no chance

3 Ireland has an uphill task to survive in an already crowded market, according to John Strand of Denmark-based Strand Consultants last week.

Ahead of the Third International Wireless Conference, Strand said: “There are four networks in a country the size of Ireland – forget it.”

He went on to say 3 Ireland’s chances of success in being the country’s last licensed network operator was “the closest you can get to mission impossible.”
According to statistics from Irish regulator ComReg, 3 Ireland has just 134,000 subscribers in a market of 4.8million.

Strand said O2 and Vodafone treat the Irish market as “west London”, only interested in profiting from their investment but failing to innovate.

But it’s not all bad news; Strand sees hope for Irish MVNOs: “The two main operators have been trying to keep MVNOs out, as they drive down prices, drive up usage and increase innovation.”

Moriarty says O’Brien is ‘utterly mistaken’

Justice Michael Moriarty has commented publicly via the tribunal’s website with reference to the submission he received from Irish entrepreneur Denis O’Brien regarding standards of proof in his forthcoming report.

He describes a key aspect of O’Brien’s submission as “utterly mistaken” before stating he sees no reason for departing from the approach adopted in his first report, which looked at payments made to former Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey.

In his response, Judge Moriarty said: “The suggestion that, because the conclusions in a report represent no more than a reasoned and informed expression of opinion, this in some way reflects a new standard of proof, is utterly mistaken.”

“These words are not a description of the standard of proof but of the product of applying a standard of proof, a description of the basis on which findings are made and/or conclusions are reached”.

The second report is due early next year, concentrating on payments made to Michael Lowry and including details of the award of the State’s second mobile licence to Esat Digifone (now O₂ Ireland).