Jobs in Irish companies are being put at risk and overseas firms are reconsidering locating in the Republic because of long delays in the provision of some telecoms circuits by Eircom, a senior industry figure has said.

The provision of leased lines by the former State telecoms firm to other operators is considered vital to promote competition and lower costs for broadband and telecoms services.

Mr Iarla Flynn, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators (ALTO), said yesterday this had become an industry-wide problem which was jeopardising many of the benefits of liberalisation.

He called on the telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, to tackle the issue more aggressively and to enforce timetables included in service-level agreements introduced in February.

"Service-level agreement time-scales are not being met by Eircom so clearly penalties in place are not having the desired effect," he said. At a business breakfast entitled "Getting connected in Ireland", Mr Flynn, called on the telecoms regulator to:

enforce Eircom's service-level agreements requiring 30-day delivery of leased lines;

publish monthly reports on Eircom's average leased line delivery times to competitors and to its own customers;

take immediate steps to reduce leased-line prices to the EU benchmark.

An Eircom spokeswoman rejected the ALTO claims last night.

Separately, IBEC's telecommunications users group warned there could be a further deterioration in telecoms service levels in the Republic following the sale of Eircom.