Rivals seeking to use Eircom's phone network to offer their own high-speed internet services to consumers should pay a monthly fee of €14.65 to the firm, the telecoms regulator said yesterday.
The fee is a key factor required to persuade new firms to enter the Irish telecoms market, which has among the lowest number of broadband subscribers in the European Union.
If implemented, the draft decision could enable rivals to offer a range of innovative internet and digital TV services over Eircom's existing telephone network. It would enable them to install their own equipment in Eircom's telephone exchanges if they pay the €14.65 monthly fee to Eircom.
Until now, very few companies have invested in equipment to access Eircom's local loop - a situation which has severely limited competition in the market.
Fewer than 2,000 lines have been "unbundled", the term given to incumbent's lines that are being used by rivals to offer their own services. This is one the lowest numbers in Europe.
The publication of the draft fee by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) was delayed several months as the regulator sought to reach agreement with Eircom.
Last year in the High Court, Eircom appealed a ComReg decision to force it to offer rivals access to its network at a monthly fee of €14.67 per line. Eircom and ComReg subsequently agreed to defer the court action and set an interim access fee of €16.81.
At the time of this earlier decision, Eircom said that enabling competitors to access its network at €14.67 had the potential to destroy its business.
However yesterday, the firm - whose key adviser threatened to appeal a new decision by ComReg earlier this year - gave a guarded welcome to the new price.
Mr David McRedmond, Eircom's commercial director, said the process had been handled very differently by ComReg this time. He said the firm would give a detailed response to the draft decision in a few weeks.
However, Esat BT, Eircom's key rival in the Irish market, said the price decision was a move in the right direction but warned that the monthly access fee was still among the highest in Europe.
Telecoms companies and consumers are being invited to respond to ComReg about the draft pricing proposal before September 28th. The regulator will then issue a final decision 28 days after this process.
