Some 14 licensed telecommunications companies could face "very severe penalties" unless they are prepared to share trenches for cables under a new roadworks regime being implemented by Dublin Corporation.
Mr Owen Keegan, director of traffic, said the proliferation of new telecom companies - each competing with the others - was one of the major causes of traffic disruption in the city since they were all operating independently.
He said companies which refuse to abide by the new rules to reduce roadworks could face a "moratorium" on digging up designated streets to lay ducts for new telecom lines unless they share trenches. The "time penalty" involved could be a year or more.
GCI, a telecom project management company, has been appointed by the corporation to plan, manage and market the duct network which will result from trench-sharing. The city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, said trench-sharing was the way to reduce the number of road openings around the city, thus minimising inconvenience to road-users.
