Dominant telecoms operators such as Eircom should allow competitors full access to the last mile of copper wire which links telephone users to their phone company by the end of this year, the European Commission recommended yesterday.

In a recommendation to the 15 EU member-states, the Commission said this process - local loop unbundling - would increase competition and technological innovation and stimulate the provision of a full range of telecommunication services, including broadband multimedia and high-speed Internet access.

The Commission called on member-states to enact "appropriate legal and regulatory measures for incumbent telecoms operators to provide full unbundled access to the copper local loops by December 31st, 2000".

This comes only a week after the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation in the Republic called on Eircom to offer only "bitstream access" - a limited form of local loop unbundling which enables Eircom to retain ownership of the copper wire - by the later date of April 2001.

In contrast to the regulator's proposal, the EU recommends full unbundling, which includes full access to the wires as well as other methods of shared line access and bitstream access. A spokeswoman for the regulator said last night the EU recommendations were not binding but were a "challenge to the industry in the Republic". The regulator's proposals for bitstream access by April 2001 were "realistic", she added. EU Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Mr Erkki Liikanen said the measures recommended by the Commission would promote liberalisation and were a key follow-up to the EU summit in Lisbon, which set 2010 as the target for Europe to become the world's most wired region.

Although the EU recommendation is not legally binding, it will form a core part of a package of directives that the Commission aims to release at the end of June, which will ultimately be legally binding.

A spokesman for the Commission confirmed last night these directives were unlikely to be in place until late 2001, as they still had to be negotiated by member-states.

Telecoms operators other than Eircom welcomed the EU recommendation yesterday and reiterated disappointment with the regulator's decision on local loop unbundling. Ocean called on the Government to introduce primary legislation to enable the local loop to be unbundled as required by the Commission. Ms Lucy Gaffney, of Esat Telecom, welcomed the clarification on the guidelines for local loop unbundling which the EU Commission had offered.

An Eircom spokesman said the company was working with the regulator in the State to bring about local loop unbundling and added that the April timetable was challenging. The Republic was ahead of Britain in terms of liberalisation, he added.