Discussions will begin today on the sale of Cablelink, following the closure yesterday of the period for submission of expressions of interest by potential purchasers to the company's advisers, NM Rothschilds. Mr Tim Price, an assistant director with the London-based merchant bank, said he was pleased with the response, but he declined to say how many bidders had indicated non-binding expressions of interest.

"We are pleased with the number of bids. . .We are coming over to Ireland to talk to our client, going through the bids with them," he said.

The deadline for the submission of bids passed at midday yesterday. Mr Price said "good bids" had been made and that an official announcement would follow consultation with the steering committee, which is made up of senior Cablelink executives, Government officials and representatives from the shareholders, Telecom Eireann and RTE.

A Government source said last night that the tendering process and sale were expected to be completed by early May.

Cablelink, which is 75 per cent owned by Telecom Eireann and 25 per cent by RTE, is expected to fetch about £300 million (€381 million), according to some industry analysts. The cable company has 365,000 subscribers in built-up areas which have about 500,000 homes in total.

It has been suggested that upwards of a further £190 million (€241.25 million) will be required for investment in the new generation of fibre-optic cable, which will give users broad-band services, including digital television, Internet access and telephony services. This additional cost is likely to have put many potential bidders off.

One company widely thought to have made a strong bid is Canadian firm NTL, in which Microsoft recently invested $500 million (€432 million). However, the managing director of the company's Northern subsidiary, NTL Cabletel, Mr Owen Lamont, had no comment to make yesterday.

Among the declared bidders are the Dutch cable group, United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC), and the largest cable company in the US, Tele-Communications Inc (TCI), which has lodged a joint bid with the Independent Newspapers group.

Other bidders include Esat Telecom and Cable Management Ireland (CMI), a licensed cable provider to about 60,000 users, which is owned by Legal & General Ventures and Baring Community Equity and Management.

One expected bidder, Ocean Communications, the joint venture telecommunications company set up by British Telecom and the ESB, said yesterday that it had not submitted an expression of interest.