Eircom owes other telecoms operators about £1.25 million (#1.6 million) in fines for the late delivery of telecoms circuits and leased lines, according to an industry association.

The Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators said yesterday its members had not received any penalty payments from Eircom since a new agreement was introduced in February.

The provision of telecoms circuits, which carry voice and data traffic, is considered vital to promote economic growth and enable competition in the telecoms market.

Eircom was recently criticised by the telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, for lengthy delays. It was also ranked near the bottom of a European Commission survey on the issue.

The association said £750,000 worth of fines had been incurred by Eircom since a new service level agreement was introduced in February.

This agreement imposes fines on Eircom after it misses the delivery date for circuits and leased lines after 26-30 days, depending on the type of circuit.

It was reached between Ms Doyle and Eircom in December last year following the settlement of court proceedings initiated by the firm.

"These agreements establish lead times for the delivery of leased lines and penalties to be paid when these delivery times are missed," said Mr Iarla Flynn, chairman of the association.

"Eircom continuously ignores its obligations under these service level agreements, so they are clearly not working."

Mr Flynn said £500,000 in fines was still outstanding from last year and a survey of their members showed no fines had been paid since the new agreement was introduced.

An Eircom spokeswoman did not dispute the figures yesterday.

However, she said it took time to get payment systems in place as the service level agreement was introduced only in February and leased lines were dealt with in a quarterly fashion.

An inadequate telecoms infrastructure outside of Dublin was highlighted this week by the Western Development Commission as a major disincentive for investment.

IDA Ireland has also highlighted the issue as a major development issue.

Earlier this month The Irish Times revealed that one Mayo firm was told it would have to wait almost four years for a circuit enabling high speed data transfer.