Hoping to emulate the success of Eircell, its rival, Esat Digifone last night introduced its own pre-paid mobile telephone. The company said it would spend £500,000 on an advertising campaign promoting "Speakeasy", and stressed a tariff structure that allows for some daytime calls at 20p a minute.
The company's chief executive, Mr Barry Maloney, said mobile phone ownership in the Republic had now reached 20 per cent of the population.
Mr Maloney said market research carried out by the company showed that one in five people who do not now own a mobile phone expected to buy one in the next year. Of these, 70 per cent said they would consider a pre-paid option. He predicted that this trend would bring the Republic's penetration level to 30 per cent within 14 months.
The new phone differs from its Eircell rival in three ways. Customers have the option to choose a plan that charges calls during the day, up until 3 p m , at 20p a minute; the lowest-priced call card is £10; and as Digifone does not have an analogue network, all phones run on the digital GSM system.
The packs come with two phone models; a Panasonic G450 at £99, and a Nokia 5110, with changeable front covers, at £139.
As with Eircell's Ready-to-Go product - which sold 200,000 phones in a year - "Speakeasy" users will not be able to use their phones when in other countries or in Northern Ireland.
