EU begins legal moves to force liberalisation of telecoms network

The European Commission opened legal proceedings against three member-states yesterday for failing to open their local telecoms networks to competition. Ireland was not included, although no competitors have yet provided services over local networks here.

The Commission said Germany, Greece and Portugal could ultimately face legal action in the European Court of Justice unless they act to increase competition for telephone and internet services on lines running between homes or businesses and local switchboards.

A spokesman for the Telecommunications Commissioner, Mr Erkki Liikanen, said Ireland appeared to be complying with the rules. But he warned that the Commission would not hesitate to act if other problems appeared in the future.

"The Irish incumbent is offering access to its local loop in terms of full access and shared access. If it is effectively offered and made properly available, that's fine. If potential competitors don't take this up, that could be for other reasons, like market conditions," he said.

Eircom last night welcomed the Commission's decision as a clear vindication of its position that it had already provided access to the local loop in the Republic. A spokesman said the real issue was that Eircom had provided full access to its local loop since January, but that other operators had failed to take it up and failed to invest in rolling out new services. "Despite all the hype from the big global competitors in Ireland, they have failed to advance the broadband agenda," he said.

The Commission made the issue of local loop unbundling a priority when it passed a regulation mandating access for competitors from January 2001. However, progress on the issue has been extremely slow in Europe, and the Commission has threatened to take several EU states, including the Republic, to the European court.

Lengthy negotiations between Eircom and rival operators here - along with a legal dispute over the price firms will pay Eircom to gain access to the network - have characterised the process.

Rival companies have claimed Eircom has persistently delayed the process, while Eircom itself has claimed that other firms were just not willing to invest.

During the process, several firms withdrew from a committee which was working towards opening the local telecoms network.

However, the first contract enabling Esat to access an Eircom telecoms exchange in Limerick was signed recently, and the firm may be in a position to offer services to customers by March.