Legislation to deregulate the "last mile" of copper telephone wires by the end of the year and to replace the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation with a three-person Commission for Communications will be introduced in October, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, announced yesterday.
Advocates say that allowing other operators direct access to the last stretch of the telecoms infrastructure, also known as "unbundling the local loop", will hasten the arrival of faster Internet access options and should lower costs. Originally, the Government planned to open last mile access by the end of next year.
Eircom opposes the move, which would mean competing operators would gain direct control of the lines that enter homes and businesses. The company prefers an earlier Government proposal to introduce "bitstream access", where competitors could offer new digital services on local lines, but Eircom would still manage the network.
However, a May report by Arthur Andersen Consulting for the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators - comprising operators other than Eircom - argued that bitstream rather than full physical unbundling could expose the Republic to legal action and affect foreign investment.
The European Commission has set a December 2000 goal for member countries to deregulate the local loop.
Complete unbundling is "the fundamental building block for e-commerce", said Mr Seamus Mulconry, e-commerce specialist for Arthur Andersen Consulting. "It increases competition, it lowers access costs for Internet users, which is particularly crucial for small to medium-sized businesses, and also encourages the rollout of ADSL," he said.
The announcement was welcomed by the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland, which has pressed for full unbundling, and by telecoms provider Esat. A spokesperson for the regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, said she "warmly welcomed the announcement of full unbundling".
Some have seen the reconstruction of the regulator's office as a criticism of some of her decisions, particularly after legal problems arose from the handling of the third mobile licence. A Government spokesman denied this and said the Minister announced a commission approach in March for electricity and aviation regulatory bodies as well.
