Moriarty: Esat third in provisional assessment

The Moriarty Tribunal has been told that Esat finished third out of six in a provisional assessment of bids for the second mobile phone licence in August 1995.

The Tribunal is investigating the nature by which Esat won the mobile phone licence and the relationship between company boss, Denis O'Brien, and the then Minister Michael Lowry.

The Tribunal has been going through letters of correspondence between Esat, Norwegian Telecom Company Telenor and US finance company Advent International.

The Tribunal heard that in August 1995 six applications for the mobile phone licence were assessed for the first time prior to an oral presentation.

Esat came third out of six applicants.

In subsequent correspondence the Tribunal heard that Denis O'Brien entered into negotiations with financier Dermot Desmond, who was being brought in to replace institutional investors.

The presentation of the opening statement continues.