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Eircom lines up 5pc hike in charges

04-02-2003 1:14am

#1

kamobe

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AN INCREASE in Eircom's line rental charges of at least 5pc is expected following a decision by the communications regulator Etain Doyle.

She has given Eircom permission to raise prices by the annual rate of inflation on services where it has a dominant market position.

Eircom is unlikely to raise prices on other services, such as calls, where the competition is keen.

I dunno.....

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#2 04-02-2003 8:58am

BigEejit

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How the fcuk can they justify letting eircon charge us more ... service levels have dropped (were they ever high) and basically they are charging for equipment that has already paid for itself 10 times over (same wire into my parents house for 35 odd years, how much have eircon made on that one line is anyones guess) ... I think it is incredible .. what is all this talk about a "well run company" (I forget the acronym, but thats the general meaning) ... eircom have the highest staffing levels in europe dont they? (employees per telephone wire) they should be told to shed staff ... that will drive up their bottom line ... but they are sweating the assets and will try to avoid any expensive undertaking like that until they have money in the bank again

[edit]
useless fcuking fcukers ... agghhh this is VERY annoying
/me tearing hair out
[/edit]

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#3 04-02-2003 9:34am

MrPudding

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The rise is not just on line rental. It aslo covers installations and call costs. Eircom have a very large debt to service, they need all the money they can get, give them a break.;)

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#4 04-02-2003 9:43am

gurramok

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Its like everything else in this banana republic....anyone who can raise prices and are a monopoly/cartel type, they can do as they wish. Nobody can stop them :mad:

Now line rental charge is THE HIGHEST in europe (Muck can verify )without a doubt :mad:

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#5 04-02-2003 10:06am

spongebob

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Eircomtribunal verified it for me.........thanks again.

Our current line rental is 140% of the EU Median, thats before it goes up this year.

Finland and Sweden, countries with

a) Higher VAT rates than Ireland
b) MUCH lower population densities ...as little as 25% of the Irish level......

both Charge Line Rental AT or Below the EU Median.

For the extra 40% we get the most fantastic network in Europe with no line sharing devices or crappy connections....thats why we pay so much for ours. Ye should get on yeer knees and elbows and pray towards Comreg for their farsightedness.

M

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#6 04-02-2003 10:23am

pork99

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Originally posted by MrPudding
The rise is not just on line rental. It aslo covers installations and call costs. Eircom have a very large debt to service, they need all the money they can get, give them a break.;)

if they run out of money they should go out of business just like any other company!

They seem to believe that they have an inviolate right to sponge off the consumer & the taxpayer ad infinitum - as far as I'm concerned they have only the right to go bankrupt

Again it comes down to the Govt through ComReg to set prices that are in the public interest - if Eircom cant do it then they go down the sh|tter like any other failed business

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#7 04-02-2003 11:13am

Ardmore

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Originally posted by MrPudding
The rise is not just on line rental. It aslo covers installations and call costs. Eircom have a very large debt to service, they need all the money they can get, give them a break.;)

Eircom don't have any significant debt to service - Valentia, the company that bought Eircom have a large debt to service. It's a subtle difference! (But, given the fact that the electorate are happy to vote for people who won't do anything about it, we'll still have to pay the interest on the debt Valentia assumed so that they could buy Eircom).

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#8 04-02-2003 12:11pm

MrPudding

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Originally posted by Ardmore
Eircom don't have any significant debt to service - Valentia, the company that bought Eircom have a large debt to service. It's a subtle difference! (But, given the fact that the electorate are happy to vote for people who won't do anything about it, we'll still have to pay the interest on the debt Valentia assumed so that they could buy Eircom).

My post was meant to be ironic. I know the debt is not Eircoms but they still service it.

Will wholesale costs also rise or is this just for retail?

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#9 04-02-2003 2:30pm

kamobe

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Whilst posting I was still in shock, and forgot to mention where I found it. It's in today's indo for anyone that's interested. Most of the article tbh is quoted here anyway....

Is there anything on the comreg wesbite about this? What was their reason? How can they justify making the highest line rental charge in Europe (if this is the case), even higher?

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#10 04-02-2003 2:42pm

Mossy Monk

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with the price hike will i now get a full line instead of half a line?

i thought not :mad:

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#11 04-02-2003 3:17pm

Ardmore

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Originally posted by kamobe
Is there anything on the comreg wesbite about this? What was their reason? How can they justify making the highest line rental charge in Europe (if this is the case), even higher?

See yesterdays thread in this forum.

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#12 04-02-2003 4:32pm

HJ Simpson

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Acording to a friend of mine who works in Comreg Eircom have been selling line rental at below cost therefore against the EU rules so costs have to rise!! ?

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#13 04-02-2003 4:48pm

Ardmore

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Originally posted by HJ Simpson
Acording to a friend of mine who works in Comreg Eircom have been selling line rental at below cost therefore against the EU rules so costs have to rise!! ?

Either you, or your friend, is confused. Eircom aren't competing with anyone else in the Line Rental market, so therefore they aren't harming competition by selling "below cost".

(And they're not selling below cost anyway).

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#14 04-02-2003 5:13pm

sutty

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Originally posted by Muck
For the extra 40% we get the most fantastic network in Europe with no line sharing devices or crappy connections....thats why we pay so much for ours. Ye should get on yeer knees and elbows and pray towards Comreg for their farsightedness.

M

Oh no, they've gotten to MUCK!!!!!

Well as said above, this truely sucks. What he hell are comreg thinking?!?!?!?

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#15 04-02-2003 5:23pm

neverhappen

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Originally posted by Ardmore
Either you, or your friend, is confused. Eircom aren't competing with anyone else in the Line Rental market, so therefore they aren't harming competition by selling "below cost".

(And they're not selling below cost anyway).

Does comreg use the "costs for an efficent operator" rule that applies to an operator with SMP to determine what is below cost for line rental in Ireland? If so, someone should compare their efficient operator with those Swedish and Finnish operators referred to up there in Muck's post...

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#16 04-02-2003 7:57pm

spongebob

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The efficient operator method of evaluating how Eircom runs it network is predicated on the fact that ALL the other Regulators in the EU seem to agree with their dominant carriers on how to keep their network capex and maintenance at a level in or around €14.00 a month a line

The CIA world gfactbook tells us that the following population densities apply in certain countries that charge BELOW the EU Median.

Sweden (Pop Per KM2 22) Rental 13.49
Finland (Pop Per KM2 17) Rental 13.46

ALL FIGURES INCLUDE VAT which is 22-25% in the Nordic states.

(both countries have almost universal DSL as well)

Ireland (Pop Per KM2 56) Rental 19.60

Our regulator accepts that our Rolls Royce network is so fantastic that it costs €19.60 a month per line to run it. Finland has 30% as many people per KM squared that we do so it is NOT a population density thing really is it ?

Finland obviously have an efficient operator and we obviously have neither an efficient regulator nor an efficient operator .....

(whats the Finnish for Biddy before I hit Google)

M

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#17 05-02-2003 11:30am

MrPudding

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Originally posted by Muck

(whats the Finnish for Biddy before I hit Google)

M

Apparently kyyla (2 dots above the a) would be the closest Finnish word to biddy.

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#18 05-02-2003 12:00pm

neverhappen

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Originally posted by Muck
The efficient operator method of evaluating how Eircom runs it network is predicated on the fact that ALL the other Regulators in the EU seem to agree with their dominant carriers on how to keep their network capex and maintenance at a level in or around €14.00 a month a line

The CIA world gfactbook tells us that the following population densities apply in certain countries that charge BELOW the EU Median.

Sweden (Pop Per KM2 22) Rental 13.49
Finland (Pop Per KM2 17) Rental 13.46

ALL FIGURES INCLUDE VAT which is 22-25% in the Nordic states.

(both countries have almost universal DSL as well)

Ireland (Pop Per KM2 56) Rental 19.60

Our regulator accepts that our Rolls Royce network is so fantastic that it costs €19.60 a month per line to run it. Finland has 30% as many people per KM squared that we do so it is NOT a population density thing really is it ?

Finland obviously have an efficient operator and we obviously have neither an efficient regulator nor an efficient operator .....

(whats the Finnish for Biddy before I hit Google)

M

Is there anything in the comms act or other regulations that specify how comreg should calculate the "efficient operator"? It sounds like this is going to be an extremely important metric and it sounds as if its being arbitrarily calculated. Would an FOI request to COMREG get anywhere ? - it can't be "commercially sensitive" as "efficient operator" is certainly not referring to our beloved incumbent...

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#19 05-02-2003 12:21pm

SouperComputer

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the sooner we can get wireless internet and make phone calls over it the better.

DOWN WITH EIRCOM!

:mad:

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