Irish consumers will have to wait until the local loop is unbundled before being able to avail of high-speed Internet access, which will be available to consumers in Britain and Northern Ireland by the end of July.
British Telecom, parent company of Esat Telecom, yesterday unveiled plans to offer Internet access using technology called ADSL (Asymetrical Digital Subscriber Lines), which will allow information to be downloaded at 10 to 20 times the speed of a normal phone line and modem. This type of access will facilitate services providing video and music on demand.
Mr Richard Cooke, chief executive officer of the fixed and corporate ISP division of Esat Telecom, said the roll out of the service in the Republic depended on what happened with the local loop - that part of the network from the telephone cable in the street to the individual box in the home or business.
He said the company was waiting for full unbundling of the local loop.
The European Commission on Wednesday issued a recommendation that EU governments eliminate remaining monopolies on the local loop by the end of this year.
The Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation in the Republic last week called on Eircom to offer only bitstream access, a limited form of unbundling enabling Eircom to retain ownership of the copper wire, by April 2001.
Mr Cooke said Esat would expect to roll out ADSL within three months of local loop unbundling being completed.
However, Eircom claims Esat is taking a hypocritical position on unbundling as its parent company BT is arguing against full deregulation of the local loop in Britain.
Users will be permanently connected to the Internet under the new service, with no need for users to dial in or pay telephone call charges.
The mass market service has been targeted at both consumers and small businesses and Mr Cooke said it would represent a significant investment for Esat in the Republic.
BT has said the charge for the service will be a flat fee of £39.99 sterling (€68) a month, with an installation charge of £150 sterling. In order to spur take-up of the service, the installation fee will be waived for customers who sign up before June 30th.
The service will include a range of content from news and entertainment companies, including online auction companies, media companies and travel businesses.
BT believes ADSL will spark a new wave of interest in the Internet, offering high-speed and content-rich Internet services.