The Republic beat off competition from south-east Asia, Brazil, the Netherlands and other European countries to seal a £180 million (€229 million), 1,300-job expansion by the multinational documents company Xerox, it emerged yesterday. Xerox said the move would extend its global reach in the rapidly-growing inkjet printer market, in which it hoped to rival Hewlett-Packard.

Meanwhile, sources said no agreement had been reached between IDA Ireland and telecommunications giant Cable & Wireless about a proposed 1,200-job call centre. The company is considering setting up the operation in Waterford, but is also being courted by foreign development authorities. A decision is not expected for several weeks.

The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said the Xerox decision brought its total investment commitment to the Republic to more than £360 million, with employment to reach 3,500 by the year 2003. It is constructing a 40,000 sq m manufacturing facility in Dundalk, Co Louth, and a shared services and 20,000 sq m call-centre base in Blanchardstown, Dublin.

Ms Harney said the company's operations represented the sort of high-value investment which IDA Ireland and the Government saw as the future of industrial development in the Republic.

The president of Xerox Europe, Mr Pierre Danon, said the Republic's proximity to the European continent, membership of EMU, pool of highly-skilled workers, strong industrial base, infrastructure, and the availability of suppliers specialising in hi-tech, high-volume manufacturing, were what influenced its decision to invest.

Xerox had considered expansions or new plants in all of its main European locations, China, south-east Asia and Brazil, but "Ireland came in very strongly", Mr Danon said.

Xerox said the business significance of the announcement lay in the investment in inkjet technology. The company began selling inkjet printers and cartridges in 1997, and has already spent more than $1 billion in research and development, and has a revenue stream from 625 inkjet patents. By 2002, Xerox estimates, the market for inkjet products will be worth around $57 billion.

Xerox describes itself as the world's sixth largest information technology company. For the first quarter of 1999 total revenues remained flat at $4.3 billion, but net profits rose 15 per cent to $343 million. Revenue last year was $19.4 billion, with profits of almost $600 million.