The completion of a £30 million, high-speed, Britain-Ireland fibre optic link by NTL Cabletel marks its first entry into the Republic.

The digital telenetworking company expects to start offering a business telecommunications service here by September when the lines between Belfast and Dublin and Dublin and St Annes, Lancashire, are operational. Such a move would be unremarkable given the recent crop of entrants to the business telecoms arena, but NTL Cabletel's rapid rise as a telecoms and cable operator in Northern Ireland since it entered the market there two years ago has been meteoric. Battling head to head against incumbent operator British Telecom, it has invested £600 million in a complete fibre optic network to service 80 per cent of Northern homes by 2003.

A keen eye for emerging markets and rapid infrastructure rollout have placed NTL Cabletel high on the list of likely candidates to bid for Cablelink, the cable television company, when the State-owned company comes on the market, possibly in September. Mr Owen Lamont, managing director of NTL Cabletel Northern Ireland, is reluctant to confirm his company's interest in Cablelink, though he concedes that it would fit in well with Cabletel's investment track record.

He maintains there are elements of the Cablelink offering which are by no means attractive. Firstly, the entire network will have to be replaced. To upgrade to digital TV network status is expected to cost at least £140 million the equivalent of the estimated sale price of £140 million. Secondly, Mr Lamont is concerned about the absence of Irish legislation to ensure a minimum of obstruction to building a high speed digital network. He empathises with the challenge now facing the telecoms regulator, Ms Etain Doyle.

"There are a number of regulatory issues that need to be sorted out. Telecom Eireann has been playing a blinder keeping Esat at bay, and not dealing with the wayleave issue for accessing people's properties. If these things aren't resolved I can't build my network and I can't deliver service to people. Nobody seems to have focused their minds in this area in any great way, and these are the factors that influence investment decisions. You don't just go into the ground and hope for the best."

In instances where Telecom Eireann owns the underground ducts that carry Cablelink's lines there may be problems gaining access to replace them with fibre optic cable. Similarly, where footpaths have to be opened up, Mr Lamont fears some county councils might take advantage of the opportunity to provide a completely new footpath at NTL Cabletel's expense.

NTL Cabletel performs very narrow ducting about 18 inches wide and guarantees the work for two years afterwards. It also only opens up about 100 metres of road per day, or as much as it can close again within working hours. Mr Lamont says: "If we can get the regulations sorted out in the Republic, and the councils don't want new roads built at my expense, then NTL Cabletel can build the entire network on the footpath with a minimum of disruption." He is very keen to see Ireland develop its telecommunications network to the highest specifications.

"I think we are losing out on inward investment at the moment. There is no reason in the world why call centres have to be located in Dublin only given the right infrastructure I think we could see an improvement in quality of life throughout the country."

The type of network Mr Lamont envisages will deliver digital transactional television, telephone and Internet services. The bandwidth capabilities of the fibre optic cable stretch far beyond what is necessary to deliver these technologies. Initially Cabletel will target the business market, but if it takes over the Cablelink network the residential market stands to make considerable gains.

Customers can look forward to a multiplicity of television channels and high speed Internet access the final link to residential homes is rarely more than 100 metres away from the fibre optic cable, ensuring a high-speed link to homes via a "Siamese cable" comprising twisted copper pair and cable lines. At present Cabletel employs 358 people in Northern Ireland and a similar network in the Republic could generate about 800 new jobs.

With more than 300,000 residential customers in Britain, Cabletel claims to have 40 per cent penetration of the telephone and cable television services market in some areas.

However, it is its progress in Northern Ireland in two years that is most impressive. There, Cabletel has achieved a 40 per cent take-up of its telephone and television services. More than 50,000 phones have been connected and Cabletel's fastest growing line of revenue is Interconnect, where other telecommunications operators pass their traffic through NTL Cabletel. Mr Lamont says it is adding about 3,000 new homes every month, and has already achieved 50 per cent penetration in Derry after just two months.

In Britain, NTL Cabletel is currently introducing Internet tariffs of 1p off-peak and 2p peak. "There's an inevitability about what's going to happen on tarriffing the bouquet of products we offer the customer will be charged at what the market dictates," says Mr Lamont. On average, NTL Cabletel can offer savings of up to 15 per cent on British Telecom phone bills. Mr Lamont expects the same and even higher could be attained in the Republic.

He questions the involvement of Bell Atlantic, Qwest Communications and MCI in the recently established telecoms advisory committee.

He is referring to new operators competing via indirect access through Telecom Eireann's existing network.

"This is what happened in the US through AT&T, where the incumbent held on to its monopoly and the infrastructure was never changed. If you don't lay an alternative infrastructure Ireland won't get the benefits of broadband technology."

At present Mr Lamont stresses Cabletel is only committed to establishing a business telecommunications service in the Republic, but he says that whoever buys Cablelink can only become a true competitor if it expands the existing network.

"The right strategy for Ireland is to provide broadband access to all areas of Ireland, and the Government is going to have to think about funding for some of the more remote areas. We need to future-proof the country for inward investment."