Cable Management Ireland (CMI), which provides services to 62,000 subscribers, is to bid for Cablelink when it comes on the market in September. It is expected to fetch in excess of £140 million.
The company is the first to formally declare its intentions in what is expected to be a keenly contested battle for the company which has access to 340,000 homes. Companies, including CMI, will seek to buy it and upgrade it for value-added services, including telephony.
Princes Holdings, which says it has 160,000 subscribers and is half-owned by Independent Newspapers, also strongly indicated yesterday that it may bid for Cablelink. Independent chief executive, Mr Liam Healy, said the company was interested in developing its own telephone and cable television network.
Mr Ray Doyle, CMI chief executive, said yesterday that his company had access to finance - it has been estimated that upgrading Cablelink will cost upwards of £120 million - but that it may take in partners for telecommunications expertise.
Mr Doyle would not be drawn on an exact value for Cablelink, but said he would not disagree with the £140 million figure. He said CMI would await the release by the Government and its advisers of the terms and conditions of sale of Cablelink, before assessing its value and making a bid.
Mr Doyle was speaking at the announcement by CMI that it is to provide a two-way cable Internet service. It is introducing the service, which will cost the company £1 million initially, in the Swords/Malahide area in July.
The company said it would subsidise the cable modems. They will cost £150 (full cost £300) and there will be a £50 installation fee. Rental will be £30 per month. CMI maintains that it works out cheaper in the long term because there are no monthly telephone charges.
CMI said the service would provide unlimited access to the Web. It would also operate at speeds faster than the standard dial-up service currently available.
The company said it was negotiating with WorldCom and Ireland On-Line to provide the service. CMI chairman, Mr Padraig White, said CMI wanted to be at the forefront of the development of cable and the new service would be the "footprint" for other services, including telephony.
Mr White said that, depending on the take-up, the service would be introduced in other areas. One-third of subscribers living in Swords/Malahide owned a personal computer he said and he felt the take-up could be substantial.
Meanwhile, the Princes Holdings interest emerged when Mr Healy was briefing the media at the Independent Newspapers a.g.m. yesterday. It followed remarks by the chairman, Dr A.J.F. O'Reilly, who said he hoped to have news on the development of Princes Holdings in two months. Dr O'Reilly said that Princes, in which Independent has a 50 per cent stake, had the capacity now to reach half of all Irish homes. But Mr Healy refused to be drawn on whether the subsidiary company - which operates in Limerick, Cork, Tipperary, Kerry, Clare, Westmeath, Kildare, Meath, Louth and Wexford - would tender for Cablelink.
An application by Cablelink Ltd for orders preventing interference with ducts for cables at the International Financial Services Centre did not proceed yesterday after the High Court was told a settlement had been reached. Mr Paul Sreenan SC, for Cablelink, said the matter had been settled at the interlocutory stage. At his request, Mr Justice O'Sullivan received the settlement into court and adjourned the application generally with liberty to apply to all parties at 48 hours notice.
