Esat Group is in talks to sell off a portion of its national fibre optic network. A successful sale of the asset could net the company up to £30 million (€38 million) in cash.

The 300 km portion of the network, which Esat believes is surplus to its current requirements, is known as the Western Digital Corridor.

Esat acquired the network when its parent, British Telecom, paid £165 million to buy a 50 per cent stake in Ocean, held by ESB and US insurance group AIG.

The digital corridor consists of two cables that stretch from Dublin through the midlands and out westwards. The network stretches for 300 km and consists of two cables, one with 72 fibre pairs and the other with 24 fibre pairs.

Both cables are currently unlit and a successful bidder would have to install electronic equipment to use the network.

Ocean was awarded £4.8 million in European Union grant aid by the Government in 1999 to roll out its western fibre network, at a cost of £13 million.

However, Esat wants to raise as much as £30 million from either a single bidder or a group of firms who may seek to buy capacity on the network.

Mr Richard Cooke, chief executive of Esat, confirmed to The Irish Times yesterday that the digital corridor was a duplicate asset that Esat had put on the market.

"We already have fibre in the ground which all our customers are connected to, so we need to get value from this asset," he said. "There is huge potential capacity on the network. . . We are talking to other carriers and some private companies about the asset. We are interested in all sorts of proposals. Either an outright sale of the fibre or a revenue share deal."

Mr Cooke would not comment on the identities of any parties interested in the network. However, industry sources suggest a potential new entrant to the Irish market, Waterland Networks, may be in the running.

However, the current volatility in the telecoms market is unlikely to make it easy for Esat to sell the asset speedily. "It's very difficult to put a price on fibre assets," according to Dublin-based telecoms consultant Mr Enda Hardiman.

"There is huge uncertainty about fibre because people in other countries built up huge networks in anticipation of huge demand - but this hasn't materialised yet."