Accord clears way for introduction of high-speed Net access

High-speed internet access via DSL technology will finally enter the Irish market following settlement of a long-running dispute between the telecoms regulator and Eircom yesterday.

But in comparison to the UK, where British Telecom recently pledged to create a broadband Britain, the service here will be targeted at small businesses rather than the average household user.

Final retail prices have not yet been set by operators, but it is expected Eircom and Esat will begin to offer a service using digital subscriber line (DSL) technology for €80-€90 a month by June.

DSL technologies enable consumers and businesses to connect to the internet up to 30 times faster than normal internet connections.

The compromise announced yesterday will see Eircom reduce the wholesale cost of its DSL product by a third to €49, from €75 per month.

This new price should enable competing operators to maintain sufficient margins to offer similar internet products under their own brand names to consumers.

The telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, originally stalled the launch of Eircom's i-stream DSL product last year because its wholesale price would not have enabled competitors to offer a viable service. But yesterday Ms Doyle said she had approved Eircom's new prices and was very pleased with a range of new developments in the regulatory sphere.

Eircom also agreed to drop two legal challenges taken against previous decisions by the regulator on issues affecting competitors' abilities to offer services.

These involved the price at which Eircom opens its local access network to competition and the interconnect rates which it charges other operators to be able to supply voice and data services.

Both parties agreed to compromises which will see the monthly cost of accessing Eircom's network increase for other operators but the interconnect charges fall.

Ms Doyle said the decisions indicated a more open approach on the part of Eircom's new management and said they would enhance stability and certainty within the telecoms industry.

Two competing operators, Esat and Nevada tele.com, welcomed the compromises yesterday and said they intended to introduce a range of new broadband services.

Eircom has invested about €70 million in its DSL infrastructure so far, and plans to spend an extra €55 million over the next five years.

This would make the new technology available to about one million customers by 2004 and radically change the availability of broadband services in the Republic.

Eircom will introduce two wholesale DSL products operating at different speeds.

The €49 price will give operators access to its 512 kilobyte per second internet product while there is a €79 charge for its one megabyte per second product. Operators will also have to pay a once-off connection fee of about €350.

The proposed retail price of €80-€90 for DSL services here would be substantially higher than in the UK, where providers currently offer services for below £30 sterling (€48.70).

Mr Philip Nolan, chief executive of Eircom, said yesterday he had not ruled out introducing a consumer product in the future. But he said the firm already had a number of broadband technologies including ISDN.

• The telecoms regulator has warned that enforcement provisions in the Communications Regulation Bill would result in a "slow process" to resolve cases. Under the proposed legislation, which will have its final reading in the Dáil today, firms face a fine of either €4 million or 10 per cent of their turnover if they breach the terms of their telecoms licences.

This is much tougher than the fines which can currently be levied by the regulator. But it will still require a case to be brought against an operator by the DPP.

Ms Doyle said she would not comment further because the Bill was a matter for the Minister, Ms O'Rourke.