A new scheme to allow Eircom's competitors access to its local telephone lines has still not been approved by the regulator because of problems over pricing. However, the scheme, aimed at increasing competition in the market, will go ahead on January 1st.

The regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, issued a statement yesterday saying further analysis of Eircom's pricing proposal was necessary. She said the late receipt of Eircom's proposals meant she had not been able to examine them adequately.

Ms Doyle said internal analysis by her office had shown that the rental for fully unbundled local loop should be €15.90E 17.10 per month "Eircom's proposed prices are at significantly higher levels," she said. Unbundling the local loop means giving other operators access to the copper telephone wires that run directly to homes and business from local exchanges. Eircom's competitors have been lobbying strongly for some time for this access.

Eircom will publish its revised proposals on pricing and access to infrastructure on its website by the end of this month. This will enable other operators or competitors to gain access to the local loop from January.

Under EU regulations, Eircom must publish what is known as its draft reference offer by December 31st, on unbundled access to the local loop.

Ms Doyle said changes to the pricing structure would be retrospective to January 1st.

As reported in The Irish Times earlier this week, several key issues remain to be resolved between Eircom and the regulator's office. These include the sharing and location of telecoms infrastructure.

The regulator said Eircom's current proposals contain restrictions on the type of equipment that can be allocated to ADSL technology. This technology is used for high-speed Internet access. However, Eircom's competitors want it to offer SDSL technology (symmetric digital subscriber line). This generally increases the digital capacity of ordinary phone lines and is used for high-speed data transfer for business.

Ms Doyle said such a restriction was not provided for in the EU regulation. "I am concerned that it would be in breach of Eircom's non-discrimination obligations and provisions of the regulation."

These issues will be discussed again with local loop unbundling working groups, which have been meeting since May. If not resolved, they will be referred back to Ms Doyle by January 15th.