Eircom customers face extra fee of €96 a year

Eircom residential customers face an increase of up to €96 a year in the cost of their subscription fee, while business customers could see their annual bill rise by up to €120.

ISME said the average Eircom price increase was approximately 7% for a commercial customer and criticised the move by the communications company at a time when small businesses were still struggling to regain profitability.

Eircom said the changes are across three main areas, including monthly subscription fees for bundles, call set-up fees and per-minute call rates for calls outside of a bundle or for customers who are charged base rates. Line rental is not impacted.

A spokesman said the price changes it was announcing will be reflected in customer bills from mid-April onwards — impacted customers are to be notified in writing.

He said the monthly subscription fee for residential customers will increase by between €2-€8 including VAT, depending on the customer’s specific bundle.

“For business customers, the monthly increase will be between €3 and €10, ex VAT,” a spokesman said. “The increase for each customer will depend on which plan/bundle the customer is on.

“The average increase per month to a residential customer’s bill is less than €5 and the average increase per month to a business customer’s bill is less than €9.”

Jon Florsheim, managing director of Eircom consumer, said the increases were the first time in four years that the company had announced a price change that impacted on the majority of its customers.

“We are doing more than any other operator in the market to invest in infrastructure, to provide new and innovative services and to offer real value to our customers,” he said. “Over the last three years we have invested €1bn of our €1.5bn investment commitment and our high-speed fibre broadband roll-out continues at pace.”

However, Mark Fielding, chief executive of ISME, said: “The average Eircom price increase is approximately 7% for a business customer. This is completely unjustified considering that inflation is currently at 0.1%. There is a danger that this could lead to a domino effect of utility price increases across the board. This development is a further blow to business owners who are still paying exorbitant energy costs despite the massive drop in oil prices.”

Details of the price changes are available on www.eircom.ie/pricingupdate and www.eircom.ie/business/pricingupdate.