Eircom confirmed yesterday that it is appealing a ruling by the Commission for Communication Regulation (ComReg) that would make it easier for rivals to use its network to provide services.
The company is submitting its appeal to the Electronics Communications Appeals Panel - a body set up by the State to oversee regulatory decisions by ComReg.
Eircom said it was appealing every aspect of the regulator's directive on "local loop unbundling", which it described as being "absolutely deficient".
Local loop unbundling is the term given to the process of opening the last part of an incumbent telecoms firm's network to competition.
The process enables alternative operators to install equipment in Eircom's telephone exchanges to provide broadband and voice services.
Mr David McRedmond, Eircom's commercial director, said the ComReg ruling - which was due to take effect today - was unclear and issued without any regulatory impact assessment.
He said ComReg was a "trigger-happy" regulator, which kept inventing new regulations that did not exist anywhere else.
The ComReg ruling consisted of two separate directions to Eircom that are designed to make it easier for rivals to gain access to its exchanges and process large numbers of orders.
It specifically asked Eircom to provide a "local loop unbundling" order process that can accommodate greater scale and introduce automation to cope with bulk orders.
ComReg yesterday refused to comment on the Eircom appeal.
Just 2,500 lines out of 1.6 million in the Republic have so far been "unbundled" by Eircom's rivals, despite an EU mandate on the process since 2001. Rivals blame Eircom for frustrating the process, while Eircom says that alternative telecoms firms do not want to invest in the process.
