Smart Telecom is the sole provider of broadband, phoneline rental and digital television in Smithfield and Parkwest in Dublin, under a deal struck with property developers of new city apartment blocks.

"The issue will have to be raised and taken further, " a spokeswoman for Eircom told the Sunday Tribune.

Eircom, NTL and other communications service providers are being shut out of providing services to areas of Dublin because of exclusive deals made by Smart Telecom with developers. Residents who have sought to change their services from Smart Telecom have been told by both Eircom and NTL that they "don't do Smithfield".

Instead, residents pay 100 a month for digital TV, broadband access and phone-line rental.

Eircom this weekend slammed Smart Telecom's practice, labelling it "a monopoly". The former state company claims its efforts to provide services to residents have been thwarted by Smart Telecom. "Eircom has been trying to get access for the past 10 months, but Smart Telecom have been preventing us, " a spokeswoman said. "The same situation has arisen in relation to Parkwest. The irony is that while Smart looks for and is given access to Eircom's network all over Ireland, it is not prepared to do the same for Eircom when the situation is reversed. . . Conversely, wherever Eircom provides network, the customer can choose from any number of other service providers."

One resident in Smithfield Village sought to change his service from Smart Telecom when the broadband service was constantly going offline."NTL told us Smart Telecom had done a deal with the builders which would prevent them from putting in a cable, " he said. "There's a Smart Telecom box in each apartment in the hall, which means that they can come in and get you set up in half-anhour. They gave us a Smart Telecom information pack with our lease, but I think you should have the choice."

Although the Competition Authority said that it had not received any complaints about Smart Telecom, Dermot Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers Association of Ireland, told the Sunday Tribune: "Realistically, it's a barrier to competition. . . It takes out an element of choice for the consumer. What would be very imporant is that at no time does Smart come to be seen as predatory or dominant. It's a pretty bad situation if it were to continue because the ability of the consumer to exercise their right of choice is diminshed."

Smart Telecom refused to divulge information on how it conducted the "tendering process" with developers "due to commercial sensitivity". A company spokeswoman said, "in relation to other services being provided into the complexes, we will definitely be looking into unbundling services with other providers in the coming months".