What is "eircell"

Eircell was an Irish mobile cellular network provider which was established in 1984, with operations commencing in 1986. It was defined by the access code 088 (analogue TACS system). It became defunct in 2001 when the company was acquired by Vodafone. Eircell underwent a major branding exercise prior to its acquisition by the Vodafone group in late 2000. The main branding was to associate a shade of deep purple with the company. When Vodafone rebranded with its trademark shade of red, the company commented that "red is the new purple". The company was known as Eircell-Vodafone for some time as the process took nine months in total.