Eircom announce price hike

Eircom tonight announced plans to hike its prices for telephone customers in six weeks.

Business costs, higher wages and investment in works are being blamed for the rise, which will take affect from July 30.

The move will see monthly PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) line rental increase by €1.18 (4.9%), with the average bill going up 3.6%.

However, the company claims the average bill for households and businesses remain below the EU average for national and international calls.

“Eircom has not increased line rental in over three years,” said CEO Rex Comb.

“As with any other utility operating in the Irish market, we continue to face the challenges of increased business costs, higher wages and the need to continuously invest in our network.”

The line rental charge is a contribution to the cost of provision and maintenance of the infrastructure connecting each customer to their local exchange.

Products unaffected by today’s announcement include broadband, international calls, premium-rate numbers and a number of business data products.

The announcement comes as the Central Statistics Office revealed consumers in Dublin paid an average 4.4% more for goods and services in May than those living outside the capital, with the annual inflation rate at 5%.