Xavier Niel (Free) plays the troublemakers in the Irish mobile market

Present in the capital of Eir, the main player in Irish telecommunications, the French businessman is at the origin of a new offer in the country, intended to upset the market. A specialty.

Irish telecommunications operator Eir Telecom has launched a brand new mobile youth service, GoMo, on October 15, 2019. Xavier Niel, who has the hands-on the company (we will talk about it again) and has overseen the offer, seems determined to upset the local market, as it had upset the French mobile market by launching Free Mobile in 2012.

Eir, the incumbent operator, wants to catch up on the mobile

In Ireland, the GoMo offer is offered at a price of 9.99 euros per month, much lower than the rates offered by its competitors, Vodafone and 3 (Three). For this amount, the first 100,000 customers of the offer will benefit from unlimited calls and SMS, as well as 80 GB of data. 10 GB roaming is also included in the offer of this virtual operator, offered without commitment and for life.


For Eir, the goal is to offer new market shares by focusing on youth. If it holds more than 40% of market shares in fixed broadband, the operator caps around 17.5% on the mobile sector, sector which will undergo an additional evolution in the coming month's thanks to the 5G, launched last week in a dozen Irish cities for the general public. In the meantime, Eir is currently investing more than 150 million euros to boost its 4G coverage across the country, and thus support the development of GoMo.

Xavier Niel takes his ease in Celtic lands

You probably wonder how Xavier Niel managed to launch a bid unbeatable on the other side of the Celtic Sea? To understand, we must go back to December 20, 2017, when the Eir Group announced serious changes in its governance and on the side of its investors.


That day, Iliad, the parent company of Free, had taken 31.6% of the Irish operator. At the same time, Xavier Niel rose to 32.9% of the capital, through his holding company NJJ, which already holds a majority stake in operators Salt (formerly Orange) in Switzerland and Monaco Telecom.

In total and thanks to a clever economic sleight of hand, Xavier Niel owns 64.5% of Eir. Malynx LeLynx, as the ad would say. Better still, Iliad has the equivalent of a call option that could allow him, in 2024, to take control of the Irish company alone.

Source: Fora