Eircom to introduce flat-rate packages

Mr_Man

According to yesterday's Irish Times Eircom are planning to introduce flat rate packages which will cover line-rental calls and possibly internet access from June. According to the article the purpose is to try and win back customers who left the company after recent price hikes in line rental. Some 20,000 fixed line customers left in the last three months of 2003.

Rivals have complained that Eircom have not made comparable packages available to them and are urging Comreg to black approval for this move by Eircom.

The article also notes that '...the new pacakages will also deflect attention away from Eircom's line rental charges, which are now the highest in Europe'.

If Comreg had any brains they would stop Eircom introducing such packages until a proper LLU system was in place,

M.

Mr_Man

In the Irish Times to-day there are details of the new packages Eircom are introducing in June.

Package   Cost          All ireland peak rate     All Irl off peak mins     Friend Free min
1         29.99             4.8c                    300                        120
2         33.99             4.6c                    500                        200
3         37.99             4.3c                    750                        400
4         39.99             4.0c                   1200                        500

According to Eircom there will be no charges for exceeding agreed allowances in any
of the schemes and customers would be able to carry excess minutes on to their
next monthly bill.

Comreg have approved these despite the fact that there is not a fully functioning system to allow other operators to offer competing packages.

Typical

M.

edited just to add code tags so Mr_Man's neat formatting looks neatly formatted

eoinm1

Dam i was going to post this.

But i'm too late.

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by Mr_Man
In the Irish Times to-day there are details of the new packages Eircom are introducing in June.

Package Cost All ireland peak rate All Irl off peak mins Friend Free min
1 29.99 4.8c 300 120
2 33.99 4.6c 500 200
3 37.99 4.3c 750 400
4 39.99 4.0c 1200 500

According to Eircom there will be no charges for exceeding agreed allowances in any
of the schemes and customers would be able to carry excess minutes on to their
next monthly bill.

Comreg have approved these despite the fact that there is not a fully functioning system to allow other operators to offer competing packages.

Typical

M.

No mention of internet packages

aidan_walsh

We only just got flat rate dialup off of Eircom, its going to be a long time yet before we can expect flat rate broadband.

Ripwave

There is one possible upside to this anti-competitive move by eircom. It will weaken eircoms case when they try to argue that Comreg are setting an unrealisticly low LLU price, if eircoms own retail offerings indicate that the true cost to eircom of providing the infrastructure is significantly lower than the price they charge for line rental.

spongebob

Originally posted by Mr_Man

Comreg have approved these despite the fact that there is not a fully functioning system to allow other operators to offer competing packages.

Comreg allowed a differential rate for PSTN over ISDN , WTF. My edit from Full Details of the Scheme

Package   Cost          ISDN Cost     All Irl off peak mins     Friend Free min
1         29.99             43.31                  300                        120
2         33.99             47.31                  500                        200
3         37.99             51.31                  750                        400
4         39.99             53.31                  1200                       500

Would the cross subsidy from Line Rental be so great on a normal Analogue Line ?

Must be

M

Ripwave

Originally posted by Muck
Comreg allowed a differential rate for PSTN over ISDN , WTF.

Package   Cost          ISDN Cost
1         29.99             43.31

ISDN "line rental" is €13.32 more than "line rental" on exacly the same line if you only have Analog services. So the €29.99 package will cost you €29.99 plus €13.32 if you're currently paying for Eircom Hi-Price.

spongebob

These are bundles of minutes in addition to the Line Rental Ripwave ? Having paid more for ISDN line rental (understandable) you then have to pay more for the minutes on top of that . If the access network is accounted for separately, what then is the marginal extra cost of carrying a call to Eircom becuase that call originates on an ISDN line . The table is on page 4 (or so) of the Linked doc.

The same bundle of minutes costs the consumer more on an ISDN line than on an Analogue line.

Or am I missing something big here .....the bundles and discount schemes announced in that doc I linked are a headwrecker anyway

M

MDR

I presume other providers can't offer a similar deal because Wholesale Line Rental still seems to be nothing more than an aspiration. Surely COMREG couldn't let Eircom release this product without first providing Wholesale Line Rental so others can compete.

Ripwave

Originally posted by Muck
These are bundles of minutes in addition to the Line Rental Ripwave ?

No, they are bundles of "line rental plus free call minutes".

For €29.99 you get 300 minutes of off-peak National calls (about €4, at weekend rates) and 120 "Phone a Friend for Free" minutes (also off-peak). About another €1.50.

Even by the standards set by Irish consumers generally, I seriously doubt that this would work if it didn't include the €24.18 line rental. (Indeed, if you use your "off-peak" minutes at the weekend, you'll end up saving money by not taking advantage of this "deal").

Ripwave

Originally posted by MDR
I presume other providers can't offer a similar deal because Wholesale Line Rental still seems to be nothing more than an aspiration. Surely COMREG couldn't let Eircom release this product without first providing Wholesale Line Rental so others can compete.

What did you expect Comreg to do? When have they ever acted to enforce their own rulings, or to prevent eircom from acting in an anti-competitive fashion?

Other providers already offer bundles, but they can't cross subsidise them with the most exhorbitantly priced Line Rental in Europe. WLR won't change that (at current rates, other providers would be loosing money on any WLR account for at least the first 18 months, totally ignoring any additional overhead they would have for bad debts, etc.

spongebob

Thanks Ripwave, its a long doc so I didn't get thru the product descriptions further down (twere late when I found it)

M