A new Bill to allow private telecommunications operators access to private land to build infrastructure will have a "very heated passage" through the Dail.

That's the forecast of Ms Wendy Hederman, solicitor and a co-author of the first book on telecommunications law in Ireland.

The Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill (1999) aims to put competitors on an equal footing with Telecom Eireann, which has statutory rights over private land for installing infrastructure. Ms Hederman expects the Bill to be controversial and says it is unlikely to be passed before next year.

The Bill will try to balance the interests of landowners and network operators, "while establishing an environment for the development of telecommunications infrastructure", according to Ms Hederman.

She said the Bill would raise property and constitutional issues.

It is also planned to have a Telecommunications Infrastructure Board.

This quasi-judicial body would adjudicate on appeals from landowners and network operators regarding infrastructure issues.

Ms Hederman and three of her colleagues wrote the book following a marked increase in the amount of work they were getting because of the deregulation of the telecommunications market.

She said there had been significant changes in the law since the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, had brought forward liberalisation of the market by a year - the market was fully liberalised last November, instead of January 2000.

The Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation has brought forward a considerable number of proposals and changes in the law since it was set up.

Ms Hederman said licensing was still the main method by which the regulator could control operators in the market.

She also said the entry of the cable operators into telephony would have a significant impact on the market.

The book covers a range of telecommunications issues including numbering, licensing (fixed, mobile and wireless), planning and environmental issues and future development.

Ms Hederman said it was aimed at telecoms operators in Ireland and companies with a peripheral involvement in the telecoms area.