Hutchison Whampoa, the Asian company that owns the 3 network in Ireland, said today it is not in discussions with the owners of Eircom.

"Hutchison is not in talks on Eircom," the company said in an emailed statement today.

Eircom said last week said it received two proposals and an approach from a third party to restructure the company's financial position.

The former state company, which has debts of around €3.75 billion, told its lenders on Friday that its earnings for the quarter to September 30th would show “a significant reduction” compared with the same quarter a year earlier, citing competitive pressures in its fixed-line business.

The company has also declined to comment on a media report that it has received a takeover approach from Digicel, the mobile telephone company controlled by Denis O’Brien.

The third party was named in a report in the Sunday Times yesterday as Digicel.

The approach follows two existing debt restructuring proposals, one of which is from the current owners, Singapore Technologies Telemedia and the Eircom employee share ownership trust.