The eIsland consortium headed by Denis O'Brien and the Valentia group headed by Tony O'Reilly had both submitted bid proposals to the Eircom board by this evening's 5pm deadline.
But RTE understands there is considerable doubt as to whether Dermot Desmond's consortium has submitted a bid.
There was no indication of price from either of the two consortiums, but an eIsland statement said its letter to the board 'responds fully to all information requested by Eircom'.
The Eircom board had asked potential bidders to make an offer showing the price per share and any arrangements with regard to the Employee Share Ownership Trust.
Tonight, an Eircom spokesman said the company was entering into a confidential process with unnamed bidders, and that any further comment would come through a stock exchange announcement.
Four parties had indicated interest in the fixed-line telephone operation - Valentia, eIsland, Desmond's International Investment and Underwriting and US buyout specialists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.
The trustees of the Employee Share Ownership Trust held meetings during the weekend with potential bidders to tease out proposal details following presentations to the trustees last week. The support of the ESOT, which has a 15% stake in Eircom, will be crucial to a successful bid.
A failure to bid by today's deadline would not prevent an interested party from entering any bidding contest for Eircom in the coming weeks. Under the rules of the Irish Takeover Panel, new bidders can come in with better offers during a sale process.
The board of Eircom will have to assess tomorrow if any of the indicative offers are acceptable, and if it can proceed to open detailed negotiations with one preferred bidder. It could decide that none of the offers are adequate and abandon the process to sell the company - or it could ask the bidders to improve their offers.
