Vodafone Price Increase......

spanner_head

Found the below artcle in todays Irish times.

Vodafone I think make enough money off everyone already.
Why the increase?

Surely they should be reducing prices in this day and age!!!


Vodafone's new pay plan means price increase for 'light' mobile customers

Vodafone has increased mobile phone prices for thousands of subscribers despite the publication of a report yesterday which shows prices in the Republic are higher than in many European states.

The price rises affect subscribers using the firm's cheapest contract package called Vodafone Light, while prices for some of the firm's contract options have reduced under the new pay plan.

The rental for a Vodafone Light contract has increased to €20 per month under the plan, up from €19.20.

In addition, calls made outside of the Light free minutes plan will cost, on average, 1 cent more per minute for subscribers.

A Vodafone spokeswoman said the tariffs were introduced as part of a process to round up or down euro prices, and would reduce prices for three-quarters of the company's subscribers.

Under the new plan, business subscribers are likely to benefit from the rounding down of some euro tariffs by one cent, according to figures supplied by Vodafone. Meanwhile, a report, which was published by the Commission for Communications Regulation, shows the Republic is ranked 11th out of 15 European states in two surveys on contract mobile prices.

The cost of calls made on Irish pre-pay mobile networks is ranked third lowest out of 15 European states, and a third survey of low user contract subscribers shows the Republic is ranked seventh.

The report also shows mobile firms here have the second highest average revenue per user figure in Europe. Irish mobile users spend €44 per month on mobile services, second only to Switzerland and well behind British users who spend on average €30 per month.

Vodafone and O2 have consistently said these high revenue figures are generated because Irish people use their mobiles more than other Europeans. But analysts said yesterday the European pricing surveys suggested that certain Irish users faced higher tariffs than their European counterparts.

"Yes we do use our mobiles more than some Europeans but we also pay more in Ireland," said Mr Ultan Ryan, an independent telecoms consultant. "Every mobile user should review their mobile tariff plan every few months to ensure they have the best deal."

The Commission for Communications Regulation is currently conducting a full review of mobile firm's accounting procedures.

Data obtained through this consultation could be used to discover if mobile firms are overcharging consumers, according to sources.

The report by the Commission also shows there are now three million mobile phone subscribers in the Republic, increasing penetration to 77 per cent. An analysis of the Irish market shows the third mobile firm Meteor lost market share during the three months, with its share of the market down 1 per cent to just 3 per cent,

Meanwhile, employment in the telecoms sector has slumped 10 per cent over the past 12 months and now stands at 15,300, of which 79 per cent are employed in the fixed line telecoms sector.

The Corinthian

If you want to post your opinion here, then fine. However, cutting and pasting a link or article with no further input is not on.

Please edit your post accordingly or I nuke this thread.

Villain

Originally posted by The Corinthian
If you want to post your opinion here, then fine. However, cutting and pasting a link or article with no further input is not on.

Please edit your post accordingly or I nuke this thread.

I think your been a bit harsh there I found that article to be most usefull.

As would any Vodafone user.!

LoBo

I think that's fine as it is - the article invites opinions and is certainly relevant to this forum: I hadn't read it until now. If they don't want to include their opinion.. maybe they are waiting to see what others think?

Personally, it looks like just more evidence of Irish consumers getting screwed price-wise. I've yet to see any sector where we aren't... I'll let you know what its like in Australia when I go over in January.

spanner_head

Originally posted by The Corinthian

Please edit your post accordingly or I nuke this thread.

Posted edited :-)

I just posted it as information for people.

The Cigarette Smoking Man

Originally posted by The Corinthian
If you want to post your opinion here, then fine. However, cutting and pasting a link or article with no further input is not on.

Please edit your post accordingly or I nuke this thread.

You should get out of the other side of the bed tomorrow morning..

As for the article. As if Vodafone aren't making enough money as it is. The ODTR should step in and cut them down to size.

Scruff

Originally posted by The Cigarette Smoking Man

As for the article. As if Vodafone aren't making enough money as it is. The ODTR should step in and cut them down to size.

Cut them down to size?? ComReg (fromally ODTR)???? are ye serious?

They have about as much teeth as a 2 week old baby when it comes to digging their teeth in to make any telecoms company listen to them.

The Cigarette Smoking Man

Feel free to come in any time with a better suggestion.

Scruff

touché.
unfortunatley i don't have one. just having a rant, crapness of ComReg just getting to me.

i fell better after the rant though:)

The Cigarette Smoking Man

Comreg are the only ones in reality that can do anything about the situation. If they don't have enough powers to do anything about it, then they should be knocking on the Ministers door badgering him until they get it. The Minister has a reaction time slower than a llama and it's not an election year, so he's not going to do anything.

There's no way competition is doing anything about the high prices, our three-way cozy cartel are more than happy to keep the prices at their current levels.

LoBo

right on smokey - can anyone think offhand of a market sector in ireland where competition alone has resulted in competitive (say, comparable with other EU states) prices for consumers? I think its a recurring theme throughout ireland that the consumer gets shafted, even where competition supposedly exists..