With an EU deadline looming on January 1st, major telecoms operators have failed to reach agreement on how Eircom will open its local telephone lines to competition.
Without a consensus on "unbundling the local loop" - giving other operators access to the copper telephone wires that run directly to homes and businesses from local exchanges - the Director of Telecommunications Regulation, Ms Etain Doyle, will have to force through legislation.
Unbundling will create greater competition and is expected to broaden the range of Internet, telephony and broadcast services available.
In an unusual move, the EU has required that all EU states have legislation in place on unbundling by the start of the year.
The negotiations pit Eircom, the dominant operator owning most of the telecommunications infrastructure, against other operators seeking greater access to Eircom's lines and cheaper rates for using them.
As Eircom joins international telecoms companies in watching profits from traditional landline services decline, the outcome of the negotiations could be critical to its bottom line.
While the group has finished basic work, negotiations have stalled on many of the same issues dogging similar negotiations in Britain. A key issue is the sharing and location of telecoms infrastructure. Competitors would like to have control of the "backhaul", the lines linking Eircom's major exchanges and competitors' own exchanges, while Eircom wishes to retain access control.
Competitors would also like to share equipment space at Eircom's exchanges, which would result in significant cost savings on premises and extra infrastructure.
Competitors also want Eircom to offer access to SDSL-enabled lines (symmetric digital subscriber line). DSL is a technology that greatly increases the digital capacity of ordinary phone lines. In contrast to ADSL (asymmetric DSL), which gives high-speed Internet access to consumers, higher-quality SDSL is used for high-speed data transfer for businesses.
SDSL is cheaper than the leased lines Eircom offers, but Eircom makes a considerable profit on its leased-line business and losing it would be a severe blow. Group representatives from NTL and Chorus - both with television offerings - oppose Eircom's desire to offer broadcast programmes through its network.
As the dominant operator, Eircom is barred from offering digital television programming within the State, but Eircom reportedly hopes to get around restrictions by locating servers in the North. Eircom also this week submitted pricing for ADSL to the group, which a source said had a wholesale price of £199-£240 for line installation alone, with monthly charges on top.
Competitors, who wanted a price close to £85 and said Eircom's suggestion was three times the British rate, would oppose the price because they feel it will keep consumer take-up low, said the source.
