In a consultation document published last night, communications regulator ComReg says splitting Eircom into separate companies is one of the options it could look at to develop competition in the telecoms market.
ComReg says that while it does not have the power to separate Eircom's retail and wholesale divisions, the courts could do this under competition legislation.
ComReg says that dividing Eircom into a wholesale firm that owned the network and a separate retail firm that offered services to customers should remove any incentive for it to discriminate against rivals.
The regulator says the move would also encourage competition in advanced broadband services, allow more deregulation and prevent Eircom from leveraging its market power from one sector of the telecoms arena to another.
But ComReg warns that the option would not provide a quick and easy solution, and could reduce investment and cause disruption in the industry. It says Eircom could cut back on investment in the short term, cause disruption in the industry and result in reduced investment in infrastructure from alternative telecoms firms.
