Call on Eir to retain public payphones as ‘safety net’

The telecoms regulator is supporting the retention of public payphones as the country’s largest telecom firm has signalled that it wants to remove all existing units on a gradual basis.

ComReg claims there is a “societal case” for keeping in place a universal service obligation to provide public payphones “in the medium term”. The current universal service obligation on Eir to provide public payphones is due to end on October 15.

At the end of June, there were 480 public payphones at 281 locations here.   The figure was 815 a year earlier.

Four-fifths of all remaining payphones are located at multi-unit sites such as in train stations and shopping centres. Only 120 phones are at single sites. Some counties such as Leitrim, Roscommon, and Meath no longer have any single public payphones.

There were more than 1,300 public payphones at the start of Eir’s designation as universal provider in 2014. As part of a rationalisation programme in 2009, Eir removed almost 2,000 out of 3,500 public payphones from service.

ComReg intends to designate Eir as the provider of public payphones for another two-year period, if no other telecom firms want to take on the role.

While the regulator accepts that the role of the public payphone has diminished, it said two-thirds of all freephone calls from public payphones are to helplines.

“There is potentially a cohort of end users who may have no other means of accessing these services other than via public payphones,” said Comreg.

It claimed the provision of public payphones in the medium term was likely to be required to meet the reasonable needs of such consumers and removing that obligation at this time “would seem premature”.

It claimed that maintaining the existing obligation would strike an appropriate balance between the number of public payphones that would meet such needs and providing the operator with an appropriate level of commercial freedom.

Eir is allowed to remove a public payphone where its usage in the previous six months averages less than one minute per day.

It is also allowed to remove phones where there is evidence of anti-social behaviour or when requested by a local authority.

Eir claims that 331 of the remaining 480 public payphones meet the criteria for allowing them to be removed and a project is “ongoing” to remove them.

ComReg said it recognises that any obligation on the universal service provider should not be more burdensome than necessary. However, it said a universal service is important as it provides “a safety net” that ensures certain basic fixed line services are available at an affordable and uniform price to all citizens throughout the State, particularly in rural and sparsely populated areas where market forces might not deliver such services.

A public consultation on the issue is open until October 5.