ESAT and Eircom starting to "cosy up " ?

DonegalMan

From today's Sunday Business Post:

Esat BT to pursue aggressive growth
By Gavin Daly
Dublin, Ireland, 12 July, 2002


The chief executive of the newly launched Esat BT will this week meet Ireland's so-called e-minister, Mary Hanafin, as part of a new regime of cooperation at the telco. Bill Murphy said the meeting was part of an effort to "change its relationship with government, industry and people".

At a briefing in Dublin last week Murphy and BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen distanced themselves from previous Esat management and acrimonious disputes with rival Eircom.

"Complaining about your neighbour is not a great business model," Verwaayen said.

<snip>

The pair also dismissed rows about leased line provision, which occupied much of the time of the previous management. "That is not the real issue and not the message we want to portray at all," Murphy said.

<snip>

The BT boss also said the company wanted regulation "with a light touch" and would not lobby the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation (ODTR). "This battle should be fought in the market with customers."

Full story




Martin Harran

pertinax

I believe there were always bed buddies. After They turfed us off lots of limits they blamed us not eirgom now their just saying what the story really always was.

vampyre

I don't know if cosy up is it exactly or was it more apathy and defeatism- can't beat eircom wont even try type thing. Esat were truly pathetic. Murphy isn't going to let Ireland be a blot on his successful record, from something vague said to me recently Eircom and a few others don't know what to make of the man, never having come accross someone like him here before. dynamic it appears is the word, must scare the bejesus out of eircom then lol.

SkepticOne

I don't know exactly what to make of the article at the top of the thread, but Murphy was in attendence at the IOFFL's presentation to the ISC (Esat also made a presentation) and I would concur with what vampyre says.

Dangger

We have arranged a meeting with the man himself, Mr. Bill Murphy on the 22nd July (9.00 - 9.45am).

pertinax

i am no longer feeling embarrassed.

Tellox

Tear a peice out of him for me.
Esat lied to me stating Nolimits will be IR£3/hour full-stop when I rang them that night..

sceptre

Reminds me of the day that Steve Jobs kow-towed to Bill Gates following the investment in Apple.

The similarities are obvious:

• Eircom are now more assured of their own monopoly by having the co-operation of the only main competition in the market (as contradictory as that sounds, it is true)
• With that, Eircom can defend the monopoly by proving (as long as Esat Ireland exist) that they are in fact not a monopoly as there is choice at the consumer level
• Eircom have realised the old "smaller share of a bigger pie" consideration, as, due to their line monopoly, the more money Esat make, the more Eircom makes.
• The new fuzzy friendly Esat won't be making life difficult for Eircom at the regulatory level (which I would almost interpret as meaning that Esat aren't going to bother ever contacting the regulator again - collusion conspiracy theories of the past may well be correct)
• What Esat gain from this I'm not sure. Presumably they're more assured of their survival in one way or another. How, I'm not sure. But they're fools if they give too much co-operation to Eircom for no reason (note: I'm not discounting the possibility)

So heading back to that fateful Gates-Jobs day, how can you not remember Jobs' statement over the jeers of the faithful who thought he was theirs:
"Thank you Bill. You've made the world a better place"*



*He hadn't. Just assured himself of his own monopoly. As here with this Bill, albeit on the losing side of the "arrangement".


(edit)Typos edited.

And nice to see you still around Martin.

Doodee

Remember when the AIB trader lost then some much money last year?
Ever think why the guys at the other bank who were making their own Employers so much money off this fella were sacked?

Well, it was explained to me as this, In business you never should destroy your opponents as you may need them some time later. business Ethicate. now, cant rmember the example he gave me, but it was a good one, and maybe we are seeing the same with Eircom and Esat, If both dont bother to bring out broadband then both are going to rake up money in the Dial-up scene,
Shoite, had this all thought out earlier and now I forget it.....

ahh, well, maybe it will come to me later

Delphi91

Haven't read the full story, just Martins snipped version.

A thought comes to me......

Some people seem to think that it suggests that Eircom and Esat are virtually bed-fellows. I'm not so sure.

Given that ESAT have a certain time-frame within which to become profitable, it's entirely possible that Bill Murphy has looked at the current situation where ESAT has spent far too much time and energy in arguing with Eircom over access, etc. He then decides, "Right, forget all that, lets get this company into profit ASAP"

Let's face it, Eircom has ESAT and any other Telco that wants to use its lines caught by the short and curlies. They can drag out negotiations, stall, basically be a pain in the arse and there's sod all anyone can do (including, apparently the ODTR)

Didn't a recent ODTR decision allow for other Telcos to be in a position to offer line rental fairly soon?(http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57331) If that is the case, then maybe Bill Murphy realises that time is far better spent in getting packages, etc ready for that date.

To be fair to him, I wouldn't write him off yet. It is HIGHLY unlikely that BT would have bought over ESAT if they felt that they weren't going to be in a position to make a profit from the venture. You can't make a profit when another company has a monopoly stranglehold over the market. You have to be able to create competition and then gain a substantial % of the market.

I have high hopes for ESAT yet.

Mike

vampyre

i was of the opinion that esat won't be bothering the regulator as it seems to be pointless exercise. All you hear is we are powerless to ...........

nahdoic

'If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive' - Dale Carnegie

aidan_dunne

I've said it before and this confirms a lot of my suspicions. Eircom+Esat=collusion to tie up the Irish telecoms market between them.

crawler

Did Eircom not recently say "We not longer fear competition in the Irish Market place or something along those lines? Grrrrr.

vampyre

Eircom should remember that brute force is often the conjoined twin of brute stupidity.