NTL Cabletel likely bidder for Cablelink

NTL Cabletel has been approached by Government representatives as a likely bidder for Cablelink but a detailed examination of the State-owned company would have to be undertaken before any bid was made, the managing director of the digital telenet-working company said yesterday.

Mr Owen Lamont was speaking after the announcement of the completion of Cabletel's £30 million fibre optic link between Britain and Ireland which will have 120 people employed in the company's headquarters in Clonshaugh, Co Dublin, within six months. Mr Lamont said that Cablelink, which is 75 per cent owned by Telecom Eireann and 25 per cent by RTE, had advantages in its customer base and its multi-channel potential, but the issue of licensing of the cable sector had to be resolved first. There were also questions over infrastructure ownership, he said.

An approach had been made by Rothschilds, the investment consultants, on behalf of the Government on the divesting of Telecom Eireann's stake in Cablelink, he said.

However, it is believed that as much again as the £120£140 million price tag on Cablelink will have to be invested in it to give it network broadband capacity.

"The technology is not an asset, it is a liability, and if you do not have a licence to operate, what have you got," Mr Lamont asked.

He would not be drawn on whether Cabletel would bid for the troubled telecoms company, Stentor, which has a £14 million debt on top of its £1 million value.

"It is a really difficult thing for me to comment on right now," he said.

He said services from Cabletel's network would be available to companies from early next month.

Currently, a network was being laid from the Beaumont to the International Financial Services Centre. "What we have got to do is build this infrastructure right across the country," he said.

At least £20 million would be invested in infrastructure in the Republic during the next 12 months, he said.

"We have a very vibrant business supplying capacity to other operators," Mr Lamont added. The Dublin market would be developed first, he said, although the corporation was "adopting a philosophy which was not maximising the potential". He added that his company was unconcerned at Telecom Eireann's entry into the Northern Irish market and whether it would form a partnership with British Telecom to gain local access. He said they were two ex-monopolies "competing against a young, aggressive company which has taken 40 per cent of the domestic market."

Cabletel, a subsidiary of the US telecommunications company, NTL, entered the Northern Irish market three years ago investing £600 million in developing a complete fibre optic network.