Losses of £40 million last year have not deterred investors in Esat Telecom Holdings, the NASDAQ quoted Irish phone group. Esat shares were trading at almost $29 this week, not far off their all-time high.

Its a long way from the $13 1/8 flotation price back in October. Pundits were agreed that Esat was unfortunate to be launching at that time, given that there were severe jitters in the market. Indeed, several observers believed that the company was lucky to float at that price. However, current sentiment in the market is very well-disposed towards telecommunications groups.

Esat would probably argue that investors are well-disposed to it, partly because they feel the company will win its interconnect row with Telecom Eireann, which the EU is due to give its ruling on shortly. Interconnect is the price which Telecom charges Esat to deliver its calls.