Esat Digifone, which is the mobile telephony unit of Esat Telecom, now owned by British Telecommunications, said the ISP and portal would 'spearhead unprecendented Internet usage' by facilitating both mobile and fixed-line access for Irish Internet users for the first time. DOL is due to go live on July 6 and will initially target Digifone's post-paid and pre-paid customer based of 700,000.

The investment also includes a £32m contract with Nortel Networks to supply the company with the first General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network in Ireland which is the next step for the enhancement of bandwidth of existing GSM networks. Barry Maloney, chief executive officer of Esat Digifone said 'The GSM network was made for voice not data. GPRS makes mobile data move eight times faster than it does today. With this new deployment, Esat Digifone will be the first network to provide the power and speed to make our wireless internet services the best in Ireland. With mobile penetration in Ireland now hitting fifty per cent, research predicts that the next growth explosion will be in the area of mobile Internet access. Our announcement will make this a reality for the mass market.'

DOL will enable customers to switch to and from fixed to mobile lines to send and receive e-mails and text messages and avail of a range of m-commerce services using the same e-mail address and password. The portal includes a search engine and additional products and services including mobile banking facilities, and access to news, weather, sports and entertainment information.

Accessing DOL will be charged as a local call by the user's fixed service porvider, and at 10 Irish pence per minute, excluding tax, for contract customers using the Digifone network. Esat is also to launch a range of WAP-based handsets to facilitate usage.