TELECOM Eireann has started a major project to give all phone customers in the State Internet access for the price of a local call.

Telecom claims that the network upgrade, which should be completed by Christmas at a cost of several million pounds, will mean that Ireland will be one of the first countries in Europe to provide Internet access to the entire population at local call rates.

The development could bring a significant increase in business to Irish Internet service providers such as Ireland On-Line, Indigo, and HomeNet. It should also increase corporate use of the Internet by firms in rural areas.

At present most service providers only offer dial in access numbers, which are known as points of presence (POPs), in major population centres such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. This entails many users paying more expensive trunk call charges to connect to the Internet.

Telecom is now building a network of new POPs which will be leased to Internet service providers at a rate which, the company claims, offers good value for money. Each POP can be used by several service providers competing for the same business.

The semi State plans to have one POP in each county in the Republic and all calls to that number will be charged at a local rate, The call will then be automatically switched to the Internet service providers' own access number at no extra charge to customers.

A Telecom Eireann spokesman said the company had taken the decision to create the new POP network because it felt that access to the Internet should cost the same for all customers.

We believe the Internet is becoming an increasingly important tool... and there should not be information `haves and have nots'," he said.

In the longer term however the new structure could be profitable for Telecom. The company will receive revenue from the service providers who use the local POPs and the lower cost of access should greatly increase Internet usage in remote areas, thus growing the amount of time customers spend on the telephone. But the Telecom spokesman said profit is not the sole consideration. "If that was the case, we simply sit back and collect the trunk call charges," he said.

Meanwhile, Telecom Eireann has said it plans to place a version of its CD Rom telephone directory on its Internet home page by Christmas. Telecom launched the CD-Rom about six months ago, and has sold 1,000 copies so far.

The launch of the CD-Rom and its placing on the Internet are aimed at reducing the cost of directory enquiry calls. Telecom's 500 directory enquiry staff handle 32 million calls per year, and the company claims it loses £8 million per year on the service.