EIRCOM YESTERDAY turned up the heat in the telecoms sector by announcing a €100 million-plus investment in a fibre-based network that will provide faster broadband speeds to customers.

Eircom also plans to offer TV services via a set-top box, in a move that will put it in direct competition with cable operator UPC and satellite company BSkyB for the first time.

This will be the first step in a phased upgrade of the Eircom copper network as it seeks to bundle multiple voice, data and TV services to customers.

Separately, UPC yesterday announced the creation of 50 jobs here as it invests an additional €80 million in its fibre network.

It has spent more than €400 million on its network.

UPC already provides bundled highspeed broadband, fixed line voice and TV services to customers and has taken market share from Eircom in recent years with its competitive pricing.

Eircom intends to service about 100,000 premises by the summer of 2012 but will eventually reach a million homes.

This will follow trials of the technology in Dublin and Wexford.

Eircom said the upgrade will support broadband speeds of up to 150 megabytes per second.

UPC’s current top speed is about 100MB but 99 per cent of its customers will have speeds of at least 20MB by September.

Paul Donovan, Eircom’s chief executive, said the cash-strapped company would fund the investment from its own resources. “We can fund this from free cash flow,” he said. “We have roughly €400 million in cash on hand.”

Mr Donovan said the rollout of the new services would involve a broad geographic spread.

But the company has yet to reveal its pricing structure.

Eircom also plans to make the upgraded network available to rivals on a wholesale basis.

“This is good news for the industry,” Mr Donovan said. “This will be a new high-speed platform to deliver services. It will be good for the country.”

Mr Donovan had previously expressed the hope that other players in the industry would collaborate in upgrading its network.

But none has yet stepped forward to do this.

“What I haven’t had is anyone saying they want to co-fund the build,” he said.

Mr Donovan said about 400 employees would be involved in the network upgrade.

The TV service will be provided via a broadband connection and will include video on-demand services, catch-up TV and social media.

Meanwhile, Mr Donovan said negotiations with Eircom’s lenders on a restructuring of its near €4 million debts are “ongoing”.

When asked when they might conclude, he said it was too early to tell.