Connecting a Nation

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 i50 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 t