Mobile firms cut wholesale rates
Vodafone, O2 and Meteor yesterday agreed a five-year deal to lower the fees they charge each other when a phone call is made.
Yesterday Government phones regulator ComReg said consumers should see their bills falls thanks to lower costs within the industry.
The agreement also covers the costs charged to Eircom and other landline phone firms when one of their customers rings an 085, 086 or 087 number.
ComReg said the voluntary agreement should see the industry make savings of €15m by the end of next year and €100m by 2012.
However it is unclear how much of the savings will be passed on to consumers as the reductions apply only to the costs that phone firms charge each other.
Yesterday the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) called for ComReg to bring in greater competition to force mobile phone firms to lower their bills.
CAI chairman Michael Kilcoyne said: “There is a lack of competition in the market as Vodafone and O2 control about 85% to 90% of the market.
“These voluntary agreements never work and the only way we are going to get lower charges is by increasing competition.
“We pay among the highest mobile phone bills in the European Union even though we’ve the highest number of mobile phones per head of population in Europe if not the world.”
According to ComReg figures, Ireland has more mobile phones than people as consumers have a phone for personal use and another for work.
Earlier this year the European Commission forced mobile phone firms to lower rates for consumers using their phones abroad.
Under yesterday’s agreement with ComReg, Ireland’s three main operators will reduce the “wholesale” amount they charge each other from about 12 cents per call to 7.99c by 2012.
“Provided that the reductions at the wholesale level are passed on, this should ultimately bring benefits to both fixed and mobile customers,” ComReg said.
ComReg threatened to impose cost reductions if the firms did not stick to the deal.
