Swiftcall, the international telephone company, has been granted its general telecommunications licence by the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation. The licence means it can now compete for all telecoms services currently provided by Telecom Eireann, Ocean and ESAT.

The company said the granting of the licence will allow it lower its prices. Just two weeks ago Swiftcall interconnected with the national Telecom Eireann network and immediately cut its call tarriffs. The company currently has about 40,000 Irish customers.