Spirit Telecom, part of the European telecoms group Inte route, is set to introduce a mobile phone service in the Republic next month in a move which is likely to drive down the cost of making mobile phone calls, The Irish Times has learned.
The new service - Spirit Mobile - will initially be offered to the 73,000 customers who have already signed up with Spirit Telecom for its fixed line business. It will be made more widely available in the autumn.
The service will aim to compete with the two main mobile network operators, Eircell and Esat Digifone, on the basis of price and will offer reductions of 30-40 per cent on call costs made on the Eircell network.
According to sources close to the company, Spirit Telecom is investing close to £10 million (€12.7 million) in its mobile operation and intends to offer its customers one bill for both mobile phone and fixed line services provided by it.
It has secured a deal with a major manufacturer of mobile handsets and has decided to market its mobile service through a direct marketing strategy rather than through retailers.
It is understood the company has secured a deal to buy airtime from the third mobile phone operator, Cellular 3, which launched the Imagine service in April. Cellular 3 buys airtime from Eircell.
The deal has enabled Spirit Telecom to bypass the two licensed network owners, Eircell and Esat Digifone, which have opposed the introduction of virtual operators on their networks up until now.
Earlier this year Eircell failed to prevent Cellular 3 reselling airtime it had bought from the licensed operator in bulk at discount rates. Eircell argued that Cellular 3 required a licence to resell airtime but a High Court judge dismissed this in a judgment in April.
A decision on whether the two network operators will be forced to open their networks to resellers of airtime and mobile virtual network operators is expected to be made by the telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, next week.
However, by sealing a deal with Cellular 3 before this announcement, Spirit Mobile is gaining quick entry to the mobile market and will be seeking to build up a strong customer base by the time other airtime resellers or the third mobile licence owner, Meteor, establish a presence in the marketplace.
Mr David Ryan, managing director of Spirit Telecom, said he could not comment on any deal with other companies. But he confirmed Spirit Telecom would launch a mobile service in August.
"We want to make our company as valuable as possible," said Mr Ryan. "We came in and shook up the fixed line business and now we want to do the same thing again in mobile."
