11890 aims for 10% of market

THE company behind the 11890 telephone directory service is targeting a 10% share of Ireland’s €70 million directory enquiry market by the beginning of next year.

Call 11890 Ltd is the third player in the Irish market — behind Eircom’s 11811 service and Infonxx/Conduit’s 11850 offering — with a 3% market share and a call centre in Dublin and Galway.

The Dublin-headquartered company, which was formed in July of last year by entrepreneur Nicola Byrne, currently employs around 70 people. It is planning to create a further 80 jobs over the next 18 months, with the establishment of a third call centre — likely to be located in Cork — also a probability.

The company only offers a service for people looking for Irish-based phone numbers, but this will change as the business grows. It already has a number for the British market registered but has not gone live with it as yet.

A boost to achieving 11890s growth target could come with the company offering, throughout February, free directory enquiry services to all Eircom landline customers. It already claims to offer customers prices ranging from 26%-35% cheaper than its two rivals. If successful, the company aims to repeat the free offer in October.

“A key offering at the core of our success to date has been the focus on customer interaction as callers enjoy personal professional operators instead of automated machines,” according to Ms Byrne.

“The offer of free directory enquiry calls for landlines during the month of February demonstrates how serious 11890 is about shaking up the directory enquiries market in Ireland,” she said.

Call 11890’s business-to-business offering is also underpinning its continued growth. This is due to feature a new premier business listing service, enabling callers a best-in-class range of service providers upon request. A business listings directory is also due to be launched in April.