Eireann, the former State-owned phone company which was floated earlier this year. It has by far the largest share of the residential phone market.
Ocean is a joint venture between British Telecom and the ESB, formed last year to provide telecommunications services to both businesses and residential customers in Ireland.
Interoute Ireland - operating under the Spirit brand - is part of the Interoute telecommunications group which operates in 11 European countries and North America. It is privately-owned, its largest shareholder being the Sandoz family foundation.
Esat Clear is the residential division of Esat Telecom, the second biggest number two carrier in the market. Esat Telecom provides services to more than 5,000 corporate customers. It also offers a range of calling card services for business travellers and holidaymakers.
Owned by Japanese carrier KDD, Swiftcall has been in Ireland since 1994. It offers call card services in addition to its pre-paid residential account service for which it claims to have 40,000 customers.
Switchcom, owned by Independent News & Media, provides pre-paid call card services in addition to its pre-paid residential phone service launched on September 1st.
