Talk is cheap as Eircom lines up internet calls

EIRCOM is to launch a new service allowing customers to make cheap or free telephone calls on the internet instead of their home phones, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

Concerned about the growing popularity of computer programs allowing callers to use their home computers as free telephones, Eircom is to launch its own service this year.

Eircom’s move into the new “voice over internet” programs follows the massive success of the Skype computer program used by millions of people globally to make free calls.

The Skype technology works by converting speech into digital signals sent at fast speeds through broadband internet instead of down traditional phoneline networks.

Callers use a headset or an adapted phone attached to the back of their computer to talk to each other for free, although calls can be made to traditional landlines or mobiles at cheap rates starting at two cents a minute.

Yesterday communications boss Paul Bradley confirmed Eircom was looking to launch a rival service to Skype later this year.

“Clearly the telecommunications market is heading in that direction and we and other phone companies are looking at developing these services.

“Competition in the market means calls are only going to get cheaper and you can’t get any cheaper than free calls,” said Mr Bradley.

Although Skype users get free calls to other callers using the same computer program, anyone dialling a landline or mobile had to pay for their calls, he added.

Niall Kitson, editor of Ireland’s PC Live! technology magazine, said telecommunications giants like Eircom would make money from rental fees for the broadband lines needed for Skype-type services as well as any calling charges.

Eircom is understood to be looking at services like “live video calling” from home so callers will be able to see each other via small cameras on their computers.

“We are still working on the details and hopefully will be looking to launch our service this year for business and then for the consumer,” said Mr Bradley.

He said the Government watchdog ComReg would have to approve any new Eircom internet service as well as its prices before the firm could launch the rival to Skype.

Swedish-invented Skype is used by about nine million people a day worldwide, offering a mix of free and paid-for calls.

It is now known if Eircom’s proposed internet telephone service would operate in the same way.

The Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) said the country’s broadband network needed to be improved before internet phone calls would become popular.

“One of the greatest bug-bears today is the quality of broadband and the cost of talking to friends and family in Australia or the US,” said CAI chief executive Dermott Jewell.

“Computer programs like Skype addressed the cost of calling abroad but Eircom needed to improve the broadband network,” said Mr Jewell.