Telecoms company Ocean has entered an agreement worth £72 million with Lucent Technologies to build its network. Lucent, which has a strong presence in Ireland, will work with Ocean, a partnership between British Telecom and the ESB, to develop a full range of data and voice services.

Ocean chief executive Mr George McGrath said last night that his company would continue to target the corporate market, but would also enter the residential sector. The deal with Lucent was more than a supplier relationship, he added.

"Lucent will become a strategic partner in terms of supplying our needs," he said.

The two companies would work closely together, with Lucent designing and supplying a tailor-made network. This, Mr McGrath said, would avoid the duplication which can arise when a telecoms company puts together a network drawing its infrastructure from different sources.

Mr McGrath said that Lucent would have access to Ocean's laboratories and this would enable it to bring innovative products to market more quickly. At present 30 Lucent staff are working with Ocean, providing technical support and marketing.

The network will link Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.

Mr McGrath said the £72 million contract would be spread over four years. Ocean plans to invest £120 million overall in the Irish market. He said the business plan was well on track.

The company would enter the domestic market, he added, but this would depend on the interconnect rates (the price Ocean would be charged by Telecom or others for terminating its calls where it does not have its own infrastructure).

Ocean currently employs 100 people and plans to double the figure within the next year. It was established in June.

Lucent Technologies is also expanding its operations in the Republic and plans to add 550 new jobs over the next four years. The company said yesterday that as part of a £12 million investment programme the additional jobs will be divided among its manufacturing facility in Bray, Co Wicklow, its software development centre in Dublin and new final hardware assembly, shared financial services and customer support operations which are also in Dublin.