Eircom aims deal at fixed-line market
But the package immediately came under fire from rivals for being too expensive.
The new Eircom deal offers unlimited local and national landline calls for a monthly fee of €40. The package includes the cost of line rental, the controversial charge that puts almost €25 on a monthly bill before any calls are made and which has been hiked three times over the past two years. It will cut costs for any user who normally spends more than €15 per month on landline-to-landline calls.
The move came less than a week after figures from ComReg, the communications regulator, showed one in four homes in Ireland were now without a fixed line. Many users have cited line rental as the main reason why they choose to rely on their mobile for all their phone calls. ComReg, which sanctioned the increases in line rental, said single people, young couples and those on low incomes were most likely to be so-called "mobile only" households.
Eircom's third-quarter results, which were published in February, showed for the first time that the company was making more money from line rental than from call charges. The company ran a campaign earlier this year to sign up households without fixed lines by waiving upfront connection fees of around €100 and offering free connection to the Sky Digital TV package.
Eircom said the latest deal, Talktime Anytime, meant customers could make as many calls to landlines as they wished, anywhere in Ireland, for around 52c per day. Calls to mobiles will be 5% cheaper than the current rates applied to conventional bills. Eircom also said the €40 package meant customers no longer needed to worry about the difference in price between peak and offpeak periods. There are also further discounts for international calls.
"Talktime Anytime offers customers excellent value and gives customers greater freedom and certainty over their monthly phone bill," said Eircom Retail managing director Cathal Magee. "This means no more clock watching. It is one simple price that covers all local and national calls to anyone, no matter what time you call."
The company also offers two similar packages, priced at €35 and €28, that offer free calls in the offpeak period weekends and after 6pm on weekdays. Customers with these deals must pay for calls made at peak time, however.
But rival operator Smart Telecom said Eircom remained uncompetitive, despite the new package. Customers who sign up with Eircom for combined voice calls and broadband high-speed internet access face a monthly bill of €80. Smart charges €35 for broadband, line rental and calls to other Smart customers, but customers pay extra for calls to mobiles and other landlines. "Even if you do make some calls which you will be charged for, it's still much, much cheaper to be a Smart Telecom customer than an Eircom customer," said Smart chief executive Oisin Fanning.
