Apart from its fixed-line business, Eircom has various multimedia assets but the bulk of the value of these assets is accounted for by the Internet and directories operations.

Eircom operates two Internet service provider businesses - Eircom Net, which is aimed at corporate users, and Indigo, which is largely used by private users. As of last December, these two ISPs had combined subscribers of 260,000, a 120 per cent increase on the previous year.

Eircom also has a 63 per cent interest in the Golden Pages, which publishes the eponymous classified telephone directory in both paper and electronic forms. Eircom's 11811 directory inquiries service has sometimes been included among its directories business assets, but it is in fact part of the fixed-line business.

Eircom also wholly owns the Lan Communications systems integration business and Rondomondo, which is a content provider for the Internet. The group also had a 51 per cent stake in the Ebeon website design group - which collapsed last month after Eircom refused to provide additional funding - 20 per cent of Internet consultancy Nua, 30 per cent of security products reseller Viasec and 30 per cent of Flexicom, a group which provides card processing products.