Eircom Phone Charges to be Investigated by Dail Committee

damien · 07-10-2004 09:12PM #1

Press Release from Fianna Fail

In response to public disquiet regarding Eircom phone charges, the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources will act by launching an investigation into alleged overcharging by Eircom.

The Committee today agreed to invite Eircom, ComReg, mobile phone operators and experts from the industry to come before them to ensure a full and frank examination of Eircom charges and the industry in general is carried out, according to Committee Chairman, Noel O'Flynn TD.

“In tens of thousands of bills sent by Eircom to business customers every two months, there is a vague category entitled `equipment'. Customers are up in arms and it is about time a comprehensive investigation into Eircom’s charges is carried out. I want to know if the company is charging business customers for equipment that doesn’t exist or for services that they may not be even receiving.”

“Business customers need to have full confidence in the communications service they are using. Generally, Eircom's position is that the onus is on the customer to make sure that they are being charged for services and equipment that are actually being used, yet customers complain that they encounter difficulties in checking their bills because the information provided is not sufficiently precise.”

“Transparent, itemized bills for all customers must become a priority for Eircom. Currently, 90 per cent of all Government business is with Eircom - it is time this business is moved to Eircom’s rivals in order to encourage competition.”

“It is the responsibility of ComReg, the telecoms regulator, to ensure that customers receive bills that give them a clear description of the charges that they incur. The Committee also intends to ask ComReg to provide details on progress relating to this matter,” concluded Deputy O’Flynn TD.

Mr_Man · 07-10-2004 10:08PM

Nice to see the politico's jumping on the bandwagon. While it is good that the issues about overcharging are being raised, it would be worth dropping a word in the committee's ear and ask them to look at the fact that the line rental is still in the basket of charges - or do we need to wait for the next increase for them to take notice.

M.

Paddy20 · 07-10-2004 10:21PM

Damn right. Mr Man.

Now that EirCoN are on the run, the pressure must be increased until they really get the run's

damien · 07-10-2004 11:34PM

Mr_Man wrote:

Nice to see the politico's jumping on the bandwagon. While it is good that the issues about overcharging are being raised, it would be worth dropping a word in the committee's ear and ask them to look at the fact that the line rental is still in the basket of charges - or do we need to wait for the next increase for them to take notice.

M.

Noel O'Flynn is a good guy. After meeting him I was really surprised that the guy really is passionate about broadband like he said. He has a clue, he educated himself on the issues but what's most important is he is always looking to learn more and to interact with people. If every TD had the same attitude as him a lot would change. I'm not looking to get into a debate about the man's politics about other issues but on broadband he is someone that other TDs should be measured against.

Congratulate Noel and his committee and suggest other areas they should look into. His email address is: noflynn@eircom.net

Sarah might be the PA that picks up the email but she'll make sure he reads it. The more than send encouragement to Noel and his committee the better it is going to be for everyone else. This is the same committee that released a fantastic report on broadband with some intelligent recommendations.

So, go on, e-mail Noel.

EDIT: Can you also post your e-mail here so we have a record of it ?

dahamsta · 08-10-2004 09:11AM

damien.m wrote:

Noel O'Flynn is a good guy.

...on the topic of comms/bb, maybe, but let's not go overboard. He's not Lone Ranger by any stretch of the imagination.

adam

Mr_Man · 08-10-2004 09:31AM

Dear Mr O'Flynn

I understand that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources is planning to launch an investigation into reports of overcharging by Eircom. While this move is warmly welcomed I would also ask that your committee take the opportunity to review the situation with regard to line rental and its inclusion in the price basket under which Eircom operates.

You may remember that in a speech to the Committee last January, that followed the uproar after Eircom increase their line rental charges for the third time in less that 18 months, the then Minister, Dermot Ahern made the following statements

I am now going to turn to the issue of line rental.

It would be easy for me to announce today that I am simply taking line rental out of the price basket. That I’m going to direct ComReg to introduce a new sub-CAP. Whilst politically attractive, I have rejected this route.

Primarily because alone it is not the most effective route. The approach I will take is more radical.

It is designed to cut line retail prices to Irish consumers by allowing telecoms companies to compete against Eircom for line-rental.

It is designed to cut line rental prices by giving telecom companies the potential to undercut the Eircom price. And it will give Eircom the incentive to keep prices down.
It is designed to build jobs, lower phone prices for Irish consumers, which in turn will lower inflation.

I will direct ComReg to introduce by Wednesday 31st March, 2004 a wholesale line rental product for voice and data services.

I will direct ComReg to insist that the margin between wholesale and retail is wide enough to drive competition.

I will direct ComReg to insist that the product is accessible, affordable, and available for telecoms operators.

If this product is not in place by the 31st March, 2004 and if it is not delivering verifiable competition and lower prices by the 30th June, 2004 I will direct ComReg to take line rental out of the present price CAP, and to set a specific rental cap no greater than CPI.

It is now over nine months since that speech was made, and six months past the deadline date of the 31st of March and there has been no reduction in the line rental price, nor any prospect of one. Instead it looks increasingly likely, given the recent announcements by Eircom spokespeople, that there will be a further line rental increase early in 2005.

I would there ask that you question Comreg on why there is no effective competition in the area of line rental prices, and why as a result the Line Rental has not been established as a separate basket as per the Ministers statement above? This is an opportunity for the Committee to pro-actively protect the Irish consumer from the monopolistic powers which Eircom enjoys.

I look forward to your response on this matter,

Kind regards

M.

DonegalMan · 08-10-2004 10:42AM

dahamsta wrote:

...on the topic of comms/bb, maybe,

Which is the only area we're interested in as an organisation

sceptre · 08-10-2004 11:34AM

I'm not necessarily the greatest fan of Noel O'Flynn but I'm not one of his constituents so I doubt it bothers either of us all that much. On the comms issue he seems to have taken his chairmanship of the Oireachtas committee pretty seriously and educated himself on the issues and that's rather a good thing.

lucernarian · 09-10-2004 09:51AM

email sent to Noel O'Flynn this morning
Dear Sir,
I would like to congratulate you as chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources for your recent announcement that the Committee will be launching an investigation into Eircom's charging practices.

This is an important issue for many people as there have been many complaints regarding overcharging on sometimes non-existent equipment.

I would like to make a suggestion for something that the Committee may also be interested in looking into. As you may be aware, there has been an EU Directive regarding incumbent telephone companies' USO. In that USO, I believe that there is a stipulation that "Functional Internet Access" must be part of the USO.

In most countries in Europe, the exact definition of what would be termed as Functional Interet Access would be measured in Kbps, varying usually from 28.8K right up to ISDN speeds (max 128 Kbps), as is the case in the Netherlands and Denmark. In the Netherlands, for example, one of the highest line rental charges in Europe (around €20 per month) is levied on consumers in exchange for the guarantee of an ISDN line.

In Ireland, the meagre FIA definition of 2.4 Kbps was removed by Comreg from the USO but no FIA definition has been introduced since. Many people and sometimes myself have difficulty connecting at speeds of 28.8 kbps and in some cases people cannot connect at all because the speed is so low.

I would strongly urge you and the rest of the committee to look into this matter with concern as this issue is severely hindering some people from even experiencing the great benefits of the Internet.

Thank you for your time in reading this e-mail and I hope that you will take into account what I have said.

Is mise le meas,
*My Name*

It may not be great but I tried my best. An email, I suppose, is better than none at all.

eircomtribunal · 09-10-2004 08:18PM

Mr_Man wrote:

It is designed to cut line retail prices to Irish consumers by allowing telecoms companies to compete against Eircom for line-rental.
It is designed to cut line rental prices by giving telecom companies the potential to undercut the Eircom price. And it will give Eircom the incentive to keep prices down.
It is designed to build jobs, lower phone prices for Irish consumers, which in turn will lower inflation.

The whole sale line rental product Comreg produced allows for customers getting a single bill, but it does nothing of the above.

As the product is based on an Eircom retail minus 10% price
• it is not designed with a potential for competitors to undercut the Eircom price (even though some may try to cross-finance a loss-making slightly cheaper line rental price by call profits)
• it will not give Eircom an incentive to keep prices down. When they hike the price, the competitors have to hike it as well.

Comreg and the DCMNR are totally out of their depth when dealing with Eircom.
Comreg have already made loud grunting noises of success on their website about the huge take-up of this ****e they got handed from Eircom and resold as their own solution.

P.

jwt · 09-10-2004 08:34PM

Going to show my ignorance of the topic here

How come they are only intrested in business lines?

Why not Joe soap being charged for stuff he doesn't want such as answering services or some such?

Or have I missed the point completely?

John

DonegalMan · 09-10-2004 10:37PM

jwt wrote:

How come they are only intrested in business lines?

If I heard it right, they itemise the first 5 items, any more than that are lumped together.

Very few residentials would have more than 5 items so each one would be itemised and noticed.

A large business could have many items; I would assume that even though several thousand Euro were involved in some cases, these were large businesses where that was only a fraction of their total bill over the time period.

Just my guess, mind you

Ripwave · 10-10-2004 06:03PM

jwt wrote:

How come they are only intrested in business lines?

There are hundreds of thosands of residential customers still paying eircom €2/month for "handset rental" on handsets that went in the bin years ago.

In fact, eircom recently increased the monthly charge for handset rental - for equipment that is 20 and 30 years old!

lucernarian · 10-10-2004 06:54PM

originally posted by Ripwave
There are hundreds of thosands of residential customers still paying eircom €2/month for "handset rental" on handsets that went in the bin years ago.

In fact, eircom recently increased the monthly charge for handset rental - for equipment that is 20 and 30 years old!

That is the exact reason why I asked in another thread about the price of line rental per month as the "recurring charges" part of my phone bill should be equal to 2 month's line rental. Where could I find the exact rental charges for all types of equipment which apply at the moment?

Eircom Phone Charges to be Investigated by Dail Committee

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