Editing Ireland On-Line (section)

{{Short description|Former internet service provider (ISP) in Ireland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Ireland On-Line''' ('''IOL''') is a former [[internet service provider|ISP]] in [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]].

Ireland On-line was the first commercial internet service provider in the state. The company was formed in 1992 by Barry Flanagan, and was reported to have launched "Ireland's first mass-market Internet service" in January 1994.<ref name="Grossman 1994">{{cite news|last=Grossman|first=Wendy|title=Ireland goes On-Line|work=Personal Computer World|date=June 1994}}</ref> In 1997, the company was bought by [[An Post]] for IR£2.5m. Two years later, it was sold to [[BT Ireland|Esat Telecom Group plc]] for IR£ 115m. A year later, Esat Telecom was taken over by [[BT Group plc]]. In 2002 Esat was rebranded Esat BT.<ref>{{cite news|last=Boyle|first=Pat|title=Rebranded Esat BT holds all Irish units|url=http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/rebranded-esat-bt-holds-all-irish-units-299231.html|accessdate=18 December 2011|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=11 July 2002}}</ref> In 2009 [[BT Ireland]] withdrew from retail telecommunications and transferred retail operations, along with IOL's former subscribers, to [[Vodafone Ireland]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Apostolou |first=Natalie |title=Vodafone snaps up BT's Irish ISP customers |url=http://www.telecomseurope.net/content/vodafone-snaps-bts-irish-isp-customers |work=TelecomsEurope |accessdate=18 December 2011 |date=23 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421104216/http://www.telecomseurope.net/content/vodafone-snaps-bts-irish-isp-customers |archivedate=April 21, 2012 }}</ref>