Internet lobby group IrelandOffline has called on telecoms regulator ComReg to comment on reports that three in ten phone lines are unable to support broadband.

Ireland Offline was "stunned" to learn that a third of lines fail their line tests. Include those homes and busnesses not connected to - or too far away from - a broadband-enabled exchange and more than half of Ireland's 1.7m phones are unable to get DSL.

"This proves how far Ireland has slipped from having one of the best phone networks in the world at the start the 90s to being the European basket case today," said IrelandOffline spokesperson Elana Kehoe.

"Eircom have been happily telling all who will listen that they have one million broadband enabled lines, yet 30 per cent of them were failing. Can this 30 per cent really be called broadband enabled?"

Eighteen months ago, ComReg acknowledged that there was a problem with line failures and said it would monitor the issue. Now the lobby group wants the regulator to come clean and report on the scale of the problem.

No one from ComReg or Eircom was available for comment at the time of writing. ®

Related stories

Leap leaps into fixed-line broadband
Eircom overcharges 31,500 customers
NTL Ireland to splash 100m on network
Eircom profits up but turnover down
Esat BT to launch residential VoIP
Irish Net users to strike next week