European telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding has criticised the communications regulator, ComReg, for not taking action to force more competition in the telecoms market.

She also described the take-up of broadband technology in the Republic as "inadequate" and warned that the economy would suffer unless action was taken now.

In an interview with The Irish Times, Ms Reding said ComReg had done a good job identifying where problems lie in the market but had failed to implement changes.

"ComReg has been slow in implementing the remedies and has so far committed to the commission less than one-third of the remedies available to them," she said. "It needs to speed up the application of the remedies in order to get the market opened."

Remedies are tools such as price controls or mandated access to networks that are available to regulators to force dominant firms to allow competition. To use these tools, regulators such as ComReg must clear them with the European Commission.

A ComReg spokeswoman said the regulator had decided to re-examine parts of the telecoms market before proceeding towards implementation because of its experience of the appeals procedure in Ireland.

ComReg has recently lost some key decisions on appeal.

Small telecoms firms cite delays to liberalisation as a key issue in the Irish market, while Ms Reding singled out the slow pace of local loop unbundling, a process by which Eircom gives competitors access to its network, as a big problem.

"The only way to have more competition is to have infrastructure-based competition, where competitors can access the last mile [ of Eircom's network] . . . I regret this has taken so long in Ireland," she said. "Only now are we getting total local loop unbundling." In international markets, giving competitors access to former monopoly networks - which run into every home and business in a state - has encouraged the roll-out and uptake of broadband. But in the Republic, Eircom has only recently agreed to implement a system for local loop unbundling. It should be in place by the autumn.

Several other dominant operators in Europe are also frustrating the process of liberalisation by refusing to give rivals easy and economical access to networks.

Ms Reding said she would reform the telecommunications rules in the EU to give regulators more power to force dominant companies to open up their networks. One of the new remedies she will propose next month is "functional separation", whereby dominant firms must split their network and services firms into two units.

Under this system, which has already been introduced voluntarily by British Telecom, a completely separate management structure must be created for each firm. This is meant to ensure that the network arm of a former monopoly gives competitors equal access to its core network.

"Functional separation could be one way of solving the problem [ of access] but it won't solve this problem today, as the new rules will not be passed until 2009/10," said Ms Reding, who has ruled out a more stringent plan that would force firms to sell off either their network or services arms.

Ms Reding said broadband services were critical to the knowledge economy and to boosting economic growth. She said the current broadband penetration rate in the Republic of 12.3 per cent was "inadequate" when compared to other EU states such as the Netherlands and Denmark, which enjoy penetration rates of about 30 per cent.

"Things like e-learning and e-government are the tools to advance the economy. Without broadband you can't advance," she said.