TCL Telecom, another of Telecom Eireann's competitors for business traffic, said last night that it was building its own fibre-optic network, starting in Dublin.

TCL said its international partner WorldCom has "unparalleled experience" in the deployment of city-based fibre networks, having built systems in 52 cities around the world.

It said installing a network in Dublin was a natural extension for the company's network and would allow Dublin-based firms to avail of "leading edge telecommunications services" at highly competitive rates.

In a statement, the company welcomed the liberalisation of telecommunications from today.

However, it said the postponement of the full liberalisation of the market in Ireland, "by allowing Telecom to maintain its monopoly position up to the year 2000, is an impediment to the timely roll-out of TCL Telecom's city networks".

TCL said it will establish inter-connect arrangements with other networks to allow its customers in other parts of the State to access TCL's services.

TCL was founded three years ago and has offices in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, providing international and long-distance telecommunications services to the corporate sector.