‘Surprise as licence winner named’

PUBLIC relations consultant Eileen Gleeson told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday she and the Esat Digifone consortium were surprised by the earlier-than-expected announcement of the winning bid for the country’s second mobile phone licence.

The consortium expected the result would not be revealed for at least another three weeks, as the deadline had been set for late November 1995.

Ms Gleeson handled PR for the Denis O’Brien-led Digifone, which was declared winner of the GSM2 competition, conducted by a special team of officials from the Department of Communications. The official announcement was made on October 25.