Giving telecoms operators access to the "final mile" of Eircom's local network through a process of local loop unbundling is fundamental to the development of real competition, Ms Mary O'Rourke, Minister for Public Enterprise said yesterday.

Speaking to a conference organised by the International Communications User Group, Ms O'Rourke, said she was not in agreement with the bit-stream access method of local loop unbundling as introduced in Germany where incumbent operators retain control of the local network.

She said legislation to fully unbundle the local loop would be introduced in a forthcoming revision of the Telecommunications Act scheduled for the autumn.