The Government will offer funding worth $100 million (€114 million) for telecoms projects from the end of June under a plan devised by the Department of Public Enterprise.

The funding will be provided to companies which make successful applications under an ecommerce infrastructure measure within the National Development Plan.

Previously the Department ran specific competitions to award funds but a series of recent telecoms failures has prompted a more flexible approach to be adopted.

This follows the withdrawal of Eircom and Formus Broadband from Government-backed projects to supply broadband to the regions, and NTL's revised broadband strategy in Dublin, Galway and Waterford.

The new funding proposal is included in a 10-point action plan on the telecoms industry which will come before the Government before the end of June.

This plan proposes funding a series of public-private partnerships to encourage the rollout of a regional broadband infrastructure across the State.

One project under consideration is the construction of an Atlantic fibre corridor from Malin Head to Mizen Head. In addition, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, will seek further funding for the CAIT initiative for 2002-04. The initiative provides funding to community groups who want to make use of technology but who may previously have been excluded from the Information Age.

The 10-point action plan will be discussed today at the inaugural meeting of Infocomms, a high-level advisory committee to the Government on technology and telecoms issues.

Ms O'Rourke has established the committee to evaluate the competitiveness of the Republic and to make recommendations.

The committee will issue a report after a six-month investigation.