Early 1997: Meridian enters an agency agreement with Eircell to enlist customers for the mobile operator on a commission basis.

July 1998: Eircell terminates this agreement but begins to sell airtime to Meridian at a 40 per cent discount. This enables Meridian to gain a foothold in the mobile market.

November 1998: The discount agreement is renewed, Mr Sean Bolger invests in the firm and the company expands its mobile business.

January 1999: The firm targets Eircell customers, provoking the operator to temporarily suspend the transfer of customers. Eircell blames this on a computer glitch but immediately sets up an investigation into Cellular 3's operations.

February 1999: Transfers restart.

April 1999: Eircell sends a process letter to customers seeking to transfer to Meridian. This warns customers they may lose their telephone number and service if they sign up with Cellular 3. Cellular 3 initiates legal action.

January 19th, 2000: Following a number of court cases, the substantial High Court case begins between Meridian and Eircell.

April 11th, 2000: Cellular 3 introduces the Imagine mobile phone brand and aims to take 100,000 customers by the end of the year.

April 15th, 2000: Mr Justice O'Higgins rules in the High Court that Meridian does not need a licence to resell mobile airtime. However, he rules that Eircell does not have to renew the volume discount agreement.

August 2000: Spirit Telecom enters the mobile market by buying airtime from Cellular 3 to offer to its customers.

November 2nd, 2000: ITG pays #12.7 million for a 30 per cent stake in Cellular 3.

April 6th, 2001: Mr Justice O'Higgins rules Eircell is not dominant in the marketplace. He also finds Eircell guilty of a number of breaches in its contract with Meridian.

April 24th, 2001: Cellular 3 makes 40 staff redundant. The rest of the workforce, some 80 people, will be made redundant on Monday, May 14th.