service remained low until it became a separate subsidiary, Eircell Limited, in 1997. In October 1997, Eircell introduced the analogue prepaid pay as you go system under the Ready To Go brand, and turned mobile communications in Ireland into a mass-market product. From early 1997 Eircell faced competition from Esat Digifone, then a joint venture between Denis O'Brien's Esat Telecom Group and Telenor of Norway. In 2000, Vodafone made an offer for the company to Eircell's parent, Eircom, which saw the company demerge from Eircom plc into a separate plc, Eircell 2000 plc (trading name: Eircell Vodafone), which was then acquired by Vodafone. In 2002, Eircell Vodafone was rebranded as Vodafone Ireland. In 2001, Eircell closed down its original analogue TACS (088) system, and Vodafone Ireland now operates a purely digital (GSM/UMTS) network. Rebranding Vodafone saw Eircell undergo a major rebranding exercise on its acquisition by the group. The main rebranding was to associate a shade of deep purple with the company. When Vodafone rebranded with their trademark shade of red, the tagline used was "Red is the new purple, Vodafone is the new name for Eircell". Vodafone Ireland introduced UMTS services (branded "Vodafone live! with 3G") in 2004, launching the first handsets in November. This meant they were ahead of O2 Ireland and new entrant Three Ireland in launching third-generation services. Mobile network Meteor is rolling out their own 3G/UMTS network, having been awarded the last Irish UMTS licence. Initially restricted to contract ('bill pay') customers, Vodafone extended UMTS to pre-pay 'Ready To Go' customers from 2 June 2005. Criticism Analysis by the Sunday Independent in January 2006 showed the massive margins being earned by Vodafone and O2 in the country are costing Irish mobile phone users about €300m a year. If the mobile phone companies were to cut their Irish margins to the group average, Vodafone customers would see their annual bills falling by an average of €80.47 (€6.71 a month) The European Commission upheld a ruling by the Irish regulatory body, Comreg, that the Irish mobile phone market needed greater competition, and acknowledged that "tacit collusion possibly existed between O2 and Vodafone". A senior manager at Vodafone Ireland in March 2007 was dismissed following allegations that he defrauded the mobile operator of more than €1m. The company added in a statement: "As the matter is subject to legal proceedings, Vodafone cannot comment further." The National Parents Council