So finally, the Telecom Eireann flotation is up and running, with AIB Capital Markets and Merrill Lynch winning the lucrative contract to advise the Government on the sale of a quarter of Telecom on the Dublin and London (and possibly New York) markets.

The appointment of AIB and Merrill has left some of Dublin's biggest financial heavy-hitters with more than a tinge of disappointment, and word has it that Richard Keatinge in IBI and Padraic O'Connor in NCB are particularly disappointed at not getting a cut of the Government side of the action.

Davy also pitched for the Government advisory role, but is thought to have never been in the running, given its involvement as broker to Telecom's arch-rival, Denis O'Brien's Esat. For that same reason, Davy the country's biggest broker with a legendary ability to place shares is unlikely to figure in the reckoning when Telecom itself appoints brokers and investment bankers to advise it on the flotation.

Whether IBI the other half of the usual Davy-IBI axis will figure in Telecom's thinking is another moot point. But one thing is certain, IBI will make a strong pitch for the Telecom job and will no doubt point to its position as probably the most active corporate finance house in the city when it comes to mergers and acquisitions, not to mention flotations.

But apart altogether from investment bankers and corporate financiers, any prospective public company has to have sponsoring stockbrokers, and here there will be more intense competition for the Telecom brokerage in both Dublin and London. This won't carry the hefty fees that the Government adviser's job does, but with Telecom a likely top five company in Dublin, it will bring plenty of kudos for the successful broker.

With AIB Capital Markets looking after the Government's interests, can AIB-owned Goodbody realistically tender for the Telecom brokerage? And with Davy's links with Esat hardly helping its pitch, are NCB and ABN-AMRO the frontrunners for the Dublin brokerage? As regards a London sponsoring broker, take your pick of any of a dozen potential candidates.

And while on the subject of telecoms, the recent corporate activity involving BT and AT&T as well as the Bell/GTE merger has fuelled interest in the entire sector.

But for Telecom Eireann's strategic partner, Dutch-owned KPN and Swedish-owned Telia, the BT-AT&T joint venture is a major problem, with AT&T giving up its link with the Unisource consortium (which takes in KPN and Telia) to forge the link with BT.