Connecting a Nation

The story of telecommunications in Ireland

Deryck Fay

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Paperback

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English

University College Dublin Press
18 August 2022

History; Middle Eastern history; Postal & telecommunications industries; Communications engineering & telecommunications

The story of Ireland’s stunning transformation from a rural nation to a global communications hub.

Like most of the world today, Ireland is abuzz with telecommunications. The country’s software industry includes nine of the world’s top ten tech firms and generates €50 billion in annual exports. Yet it was only a few decades ago that Ireland was a largely agrarian nation with a two-year waiting list to get a landline phone installed. Connecting a Nation tells the story of Ireland’s telecommunications boom—a story not just of cables and SIM cards but of the pivotal role telecommunications has played in the development of the country over the last two centuries.

Deryck Fay—a longtime telecom industry worker—shows how Irish telecommunications is intimately bound up with politics, economics, and geography, illustrating these interconnections by drawing on a range of historical personal stories. Fay brings to life the first day of work for an operator at Dublin’s new telephone exchange in 1881, the painful process of getting a phone installed in the 1970s, and the story of how an airline website created by two students ignited the digital revolution in Ireland. In providing a direct line between the past to the present, Connecting a Nation offers an insider’s perspective on how the telecommunications decisions of the past continue to shape the lives of the Irish, both individually and nationally, while pointing the way towards an ever-connected future.

By: Deryck Fay
Imprint: University College Dublin Press
Country of Publication: Ireland
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781910820872
ISBN 10: 1910820873
Pages: 250
Publication Date: 18 August 2022
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Deryck Fay has been fascinated by technology since he was a boy. Since graduating from Trinity College Dublin with a Masters in Science, he has worked for 20 years in the telecoms industry. His ability to explain technology solutions combined with a passion for understanding how policy, governments and markets shape the industry, ideally positions him to tell the fascinating story of telecommunications in Ireland.

Reviews for Connecting a Nation: The story of telecommunications in Ireland

"'Deryck Fay’s Connecting a Nation isn’t just about SIM cards, cables, mobile masts, and the internet, it’s a story of people and the development of Ireland, and the pivotal role that telecommunications have played in it. This book is a valuable resource for future researchers with appendices that stretch to almost 25% of the total page count' - Mark Twomey, The Irish Examiner, February 2022.; '""Frank in sex matters"": How Ireland got hooked on British TV, from 1953 to today' - Deryk Fay, The Irish Times, January 2022.; 'Deryck Fay on his fascinating history of Irish phones, the first televisions and how we went online.' - Irish Independent, January 2022."