Irish consumers to pay double British iPhone rates

IRISH consumers will be paying almost double the calling rates of their British counterparts when Apple’s iPhone mobile phone goes on sale here next week.

In Britain and the North the must-have gadget retails at €351 for a basic phone with a monthly fee of €45.70 for 600 minutes of calls.

But when the phone goes on sale here on March 14 the basic handset will be €399 and the cheapest monthly scheme will be €45 — with only 175 minutes of calls.

Callers in the North and Britain get four times as many “free” minutes for €45 than the Irish — even though mobile phone giant O2 operates the iPhone on both sides of the Irish Sea.

The best Irish deal gives 700 minutes and costs €100 a month, yet callers in the North and Britain can get 600 minutes for €45 monthly — making Irish per-minute costs almost double British rates.

Likewise the €100 a month deal in Britain and the North buys callers 3,000 minutes a month — more than four times the amount of minutes callers in Ireland get for the same price.

Last night, telecommunications experts said consumers deserve a better deal from O2, which has the exclusive rights to iPhone in Britain, the North and Ireland.

“The costs to O2 (of calls) are exactly the same here as they are in Britain,” said Pat Phelan, of Cubic Telecom.

“Yet again we are being fleeced and it has to stop.

“I could understand if prices here were 20% to 40% higher but not four times as expensive.”

British owners also get unlimited downloads of data whereas in Ireland there is a monthly 1GB cap — enough for around 50 to 100 photographs.

Mr Phelan, whose firm sells mobile phone SIM cards to cut the cost of calling while abroad, said consumers should hunt for better deals on similar phones.

His phone is a top-rated Nokia N95, which like the iPhone plays movies and music, sends emails, stores pictures and browses the internet.

Vodafone offers the Nokia phone on a pay-monthly scheme for a one-off payment of €169 to €229 for the handset and a monthly fee of around €49 for 200 minutes and 200 texts.

Last night, the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) said O2 should bring its iPhone prices into line with those charged in Britain and the North.

“This is another example where it seems firms feel they can charge Irish consumers a lot more,” said CAI chairman James Doorley.

“We already have some of the highest mobile phone charges in Europe because of the lack of competition in the market.”

O2 spokeswoman Fiona Dowling said prices compared well when judged against similar phones in Ireland.

The iPhone costs were also similar to those charged in continental Europe for the device, she said.

Mobile tariffs

RIVAL deals on the latest mobile phones:

Apple iPhone: Handset: 399 or 499; Typical monthly cost: 45; Package: 175 anytime minutes and 100 texts; Operator: O2 only, bill-pay.

Nokia N95: Handset: 169 to 229; Typical monthly cost: 49; Package: 200 anytime minutes and 200 texts; Operator: Vodafone, bill-pay.

Nokia N95: Handset: 399; Typical monthly cost: 50; Package: 300 anytime minutes with free weekend calls and 120 texts; Operator: Meteor, bill-pay, from April.

(Source: O2, Vodafone, Meteor)