Civil servants grossly underestimated potential mobile use

SENIOR civil servants grossly underestimated the number of mobile phones that would be sold in Ireland when awarding to second mobile phone licence to Esat Digifone.

While most people in the State have a mobile phone, it was thought at the time that only about 45,000 customers a year would sign up.

The tribunal which is beginning a long and detailed probe into how the second mobile licence was granted to Denis O'Brien's Esat Digifone in 1996 heard there are now close on three million units in circulation.