It would be unwise to treat the news that Eircom is once again on the block with anything other than the greatest circumspection. The State telephone network has changed hands four times in seven years. On each occasion the new owners have sought to get their money back and three times they have succeeded handsomely. The only exception was the sale of the company to venture capital interests in 2001, when the sellers, including many small shareholders who participated in the original flotation, lost out.
As a result, the company is but a pale shadow of what was once the flagship of the tate sector. In the space of seven years the Republic has gone from having a good telecommunications network operated by a well-capitalised company with a clear focus to having a network desperately in need of investment run by a company lacking any discernible long-term goal other than selling itself to the highest bidder.
The losers in this merry-go-round of corporate wheeling and dealing have without a doubt been the company's customers and the economy at large. The Republic, a state which has committed itself to becoming a knowledge-based economy, languishes down the league table for broadband penetration, one of the key enablers of any such transition.
Enter Babcock & Brown, an Australian finance house on the hunt for infrastructural assets. These would-be suitors have indicated that they will be looking for a significant return on the €2 billion or more it will cost them to buy Eircom.
Given the extent of the asset stripping carried out by the company's previous owners, it is hard to see where, apart from the money in customers' pockets, that Babcock & Brown will get their payback. It is equally hard to see how there will be scope for any significant investment under this scenario.
There are indications that Babcock & Brown are contemplating splitting the company into two businesses. The underlying rationale for this is that it will facilitate further financial engineering, the outcome of which will be cash for the new owners, debt for Eircom and little if anything for investment.
The overwhelming probability is that, if the latest overtures lead to a sale, the customers of Eircom and the national interest will once again be the losers. It is up to Babcock & Brown and Eircom to prove otherwise.
Failing that, it is time for the Government to look seriously at intervention rather than let such a vital national economic asset become a plaything once again for cynical investors looking to make a quick return.