Eircell has never been shy when it comes to self-promotion, but even the Margin raised its eyebrows when it read in a press release this week just how important the mobile operator considers itself on the world stage.

Announcing a new service called E-merge, which sends email to mobile phones, chief executive Stephen Brewer said: "With the launch of E-merge, the wireless world wide web (wwww) is now a reality and this is just the beginning."

Is Brewer really suggesting that the development of the global wireless web was not real until Eircell stepped into the breach this week? If so, one can only hope that prospective buyers of Eircom share his views and value it accordingly.