Esat Digifone fined £1m

Esat Digifone, which secured the second mobile phone licence, has been fined £1 million for failing to launch its service in time, the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications stated. Mr Dukes, in a written reply to the Fianna Fail spokesman on communications, Mr Seamus Brennan, said that, while the application for the licence was a confidential document, he could confirm that there were circumstances in which penalties became payable. The £1 million penalty was payable four months after the "trigger event" and would be paid to the Exchequer.