British Telecom (BT), the ESB and the US insurer AIG will next week unveil details of the phone service to be offered to customers in the Republic, a spokesman for the joint venture said last night. The consortium - which is 50 per cent owned by BT, with ESB controlling 30 per cent and AIG holding 20 per cent - said it had already secured the approval of the European Union authorities for its operations.

The group is expected to announce that it will compete directly with Telecom Eireann for residential customers after the State company's monopoly on voice telephony is lifted on December 15th. While BT, with its extensive experience of the industry, will lead the project, the ESB's internal communications network will provide the spine for the new network. AIG, one of the largest 20 companies in the US, is seen by analysts as having both financial strength and a knowledge of the telecommunications sector.