Early Mobile Telephony The Department of Post and Telegraph made its first tentative plans for mobile telephony in the early 1980s. A number of alternative systems were available. The Department opted for the TACS system which was being developed in the United Kingdom. Eircell was launched in 1985. There were initially 1000 users with handsets costing up to £2000 rental charges £105 per quarter and […]
EU Deregulation The EU Treaty provides that businesses entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest are subject to competition rules insofar as this does not obstruct the performance of their functions. EU directives in the early 1990s regulated the circumstances in which states might mean maintain exclusive rights for undertakings to which states had granted exclusive rights are monopolies in respect of […]
Telecommunication Liberalisation The EU framework for liberalisation and telecommunications commenced in 1990. The role of the communications regulator is to promote and protect competition in the market. The EU policies envisaged that competition would be the primary driver as state monopolies are rolled back. The universal service concept is intended to service remote areas, notwithstanding that it may not be financially attractive, in order to […]
Transmitting Equipment / Mobile Phones There is a 2014 directive on putting radio equipment on the market. The rules seek to keep pace with the growing number of radio equipment devices and ensure that they do not interfere with each other in respect of essential health and safety requirements. There are additional provisions for market surveillance, to track and monitor products which fail to comply […]
Premium Rate Services Under section 90 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983 (No. 24 of 1983) Telecom Eireann was empowered to make schemes relating to tariffs terms and conditions of service. It introduced a data virtual private network facility, answering facility and 1890 calls. Premium rate services in telecommunications commenced in 1988. They involved a service part of which is charged through the […]
Telegraphs Under older legislation, the definition of a telegraph was a wire used for the purpose of telegraphic communication with any casing, coating, tube enclosing the same and any apparatus connected for the purpose of telegraphic communication. This included apparatus transmitting messages and other communications by electrical signals. Accordingly, it includes telephone, wireless telegraphy, and broadcasting. In 1837, Wheatstone and Cooke patented communications by electromagnetic […]
Emergence of Telegraph Basic forms of electronic telecommunication emerged in the 19th century. The early forms of telecommunication comprised wireless signals used in tandem with telegrams. Telephones and wireless emerged at the end of the 19th century. The wireless signal sent by code became a means of communication The earliest telecommunication signals were used by the military. In the mid 19th century railway companies developed […]
EU Competition The European Union commenced the process of liberalisation of the telecommunication texture in the early 1990s. The purpose was that the market should be fully opened up to competition by 1998. so that businesses could provide services in all telecommunication areas. In order to protect areas where it would be uneconomic to provide a service, requirements for universal service were part of the […]