BT Ireland



1992–2002	2002–2005	2005–2019	2019–present

Esat Telecom[]

1992–2002[]

Designer:

Paragon Design

Typography:

Goudy Old Style

Launched:

1992

Esat Telecom company was founded in 1990 by Denis O'Brien. Its name is a shortening of "Éireann Satellite".

“I designed this logo for Esat, Denis O'Brein's new company, in 1992. I had been on holiday in Spain the previous week and my head was full of colourful images that are so prevalent throughout Spain. In Spain, the works of Miro and Picasso are everywhere. Being highly influenced by their works, I was determined to design an original and creative logo that was both European and contemporary and not influenced by Celtic graphics. On that gloomy day, the presentation of bright colours on the Esat logo design stood out a mile. It did not look like a phone company or anything like a phone company, but it did look exciting and different and Denis loved it. It was a fresh, new, colourful and creative image which was what Denis was trying to convey about his new service. For the record, the green circle represents the earth, the blue streak represents the signal/echo from a satellite and the red circle represents the satellite itself. Since then, I have often been asked to replicate it but I keep telling clients, every logo has to have its own solution!”

— Paragon Design

It was bought by BT in April 2000, outmanoeuvring Telenor.

Logo here
Esat Digiphone - Paragon Design
Circular to shareholders - BT
BT launches £1.5bn Esat rescue - The Guardian
BT is Esat's white knight - CNN

Esat BT[]

2002–2005[]

Esat Telecom was rebranded as Esat BT in 2002, and replaced its own logo with that of BT's piper, altering it for the Irish market by making it all blue to avoid being percieved as too British.

Future of Esat Business unclear as it undergoes BT rebranding - The Irish Times
Irish sensitivites colour Esat BT logo - The Irish Times
Rebranded Esat BT holds all Irish units - Independent.ie

BT Ireland[]

2005–2019[]

In April 2005, Esat BT was renamed to BT. In July 2009, BT Ireland agreed to sell its residential business to Vodafone approved in August.

Esat BT finally changes its name to BT Ireland - The Irish Times
Marketing: Name change can cause an identity crisis - The Times
BT/Vodafone Ireland Deal Approved - Light Reading