Ryanair Telecom hopes new telephone service will take off

THE latest entrant into the telecoms market plans to leverage the Ryanair brand to win thousands of customers from former State monopoly Eircom.

Ryanair Telecom is an independent 100% Irish-owned stand-alone company with no ownership crossover with the airline, according to chief executive Sean McVeigh.

Mr McVeigh said the new telecoms provider is licensing the Ryanair name from the low-cost airline.

"The name is better than having Ryanair as a shareholder," he said.

Ryanair Telecom is advertising that it charges half of what Eircom charges for local, national and international calls.

"Our is aim is to keep costs low and pass on the savings to the customer. If we have 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year we will have a profitable business. We have stripped out all the overheads without compromising on call quality so that we can provide stiff competition," he said.

Ryanair Telecom plans to use the web to win customers who will sign up at its site.

"A residential or business customer can now make substantial savings on local and national calls with savings of €1.25 on a 30-minute national call and up to €2.16 on a 30-minute call to a mobile. While Eircom charges up to 5c a minute for local calls, the same calls with Ryanair Telecom can be made for as little as 2.5c a minute. That's double the amount of calls for the same price," says Mr McVeigh.

Ryanair Telecom also says it provides massive savings on international calls with special budget packages available.

"The service is simple to use with no prefixes, no call connection charges or need for new equipment."