Mr Erkki Liikanen, the European telecoms commissioner, will meet the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, today to discuss the Republic's poor record on unbundling the local loop.

Unbundling is a process which enables telecoms operators to gain access to Eircom's local network to offer innovative services such as high-speed Internet access to consumers.

It is seen as another vital step towards increasing competition in the telecoms market and lowering prices.

Mr Liikanen said the Republic was usually among the best on such technology issues, but not on this one.

He described the price which Eircom is proposing to charge other operators to use its network as "not cheap".