Secrets and security
Former Digifone chairman Denis O’Brien described how in order to guarantee the confidentiality of the team’s work, a short-term lease was taken of premises in Dublin’s Lombard Street East.
He had been told bidders in other markets had gone to extreme lengths to find out what others were up to.
Because of this, Digifone had 24-hour security, while a security firm swept the offices for listening devices every two weeks.
Violinist Fionnuala Sherry, who had starred in Norway’s winning Eurovision Song Contest entry Nocturne, emerged from the back of an Esat Digifone articulated truck with dry ice billowing out, when the consortium brought its 2,500 bid documents to the Department of Communications in Kildare Street.
Mr O’Brien explained: “For the purpose of delivering the bid we set our attention on the creation of an event in order to demonstrate some of our marketing skills and to make our bid vibrant and a talking point with the officials of the department.
“It was a carnival atmosphere. Out of the corner of my eye I could see two of the other bidders standing across watching the performance. They had arrived earlier in taxis to drop their bids in.”
Dublin-based public relations firm Drury Communications yesterday strongly rejected Mr O’Brien’s earlier claim they “jumped ship” as public affairs advisers to the consortium and started instead to work for Motorola, presumably because they thought Motorola had a better chance of winning the licence. The company said the claims were without foundation.
