We were the best bid, says O’Brien

MILLIONAIRE businessman Denis O’Brien told the Moriarty Tribunal yesterday his Esat Digifone consortium won the competition for the second mobile phone licence in 1995 because it was the best bid.

"There was no luck involved in Esat winning the licence," he declared. "The licence was won because Esat prepared diligently, had better and more driven people working for it and spent more money in proving to the competition judges that Esat was ready to get the network up and running quickly, as it did."

In hindsight, Mr O'Brien said, it could be now seen the awarding of the GSM2 licence to Digifone was one of the best commercial decisions made by a government in recent years. Digifone had met and exceeded every target in its financial and business plan.