The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, last night admitted more needed to be done to promote competition in telecommunications by enabling operators to access Eircom's local network. Speaking at the opening of an international telecommunications conference in Dublin last night, Mr Ahern, highlighted the importance of unbundling the local loop and issuing third generation mobile licences.
While acknowledging progress had been made through the efforts of the Office of the Telecommunications Regulator on the unbundling issue, Mr Ahern, called for action on the contentious issues.
Mr Ahern's comments reflect a growing concern among telecommunications experts that the Republic is falling behind the rest of Europe on both issues.
Despite an European Commission regulation which mandated access to the local networks of incumbent operators by January 1st, a single local loop is yet to be unbundled here.
On the issue of local-loop unbundling other telecoms operators have accused Eircom of frustrating their attempts to gain access to its network at cost effective prices.
Eircom, which believes local factors make it uneconomic to offer access at a price less than #25 (£19.69), is currently in talks with Ms Doyle on the issue.
Meanwhile, in a ruling yesterday, Ms Doyle, directed Eircom to change its procedures for providing information to other licensed operators for the purposes of local-loop unbundling.
