The Competition Authority has requested further information from Eircom about its proposed purchase of mobile operator Meteor for €420 million.

The request was made last week and a response is likely within a fortnight or three weeks. Once the response is received the authority has one month within which to either approve the purchase or to announce it is moving on to a phase two inquiry.

The information request was expected by Eircom, which won the race to buy Meteor after it was put up for sale by its owner, Western Wireless.

When the deal was announced in July it was stated that it was not expected to be finalised until December.

The Competition Authority is not expected to prevent the deal going ahead but may lay down conditions concerning the linking of mobile and landline services in pricing packages.

On Thursday Eircom will hold an emergency general meeting to approve a rights issue aimed at raising funds for the Meteor deal.