GAA in talks on cut-price telecom deal for members

The GAA is negotiating a deal with an Irish telecoms company to offer its one million members a cut-price telephone service to compete directly against Eircom.

The sports organisation plans to market this service to its membership in return for a portion of the revenue generated through the affinity deal with Dublin-based firm Access Telecom.

Access has agreed to offer the GAA up to 15 per cent of the revenue generated by members who sign up for the service, which includes line rental and calls.

The GAA plans to split the revenue generated from the deal between its central organisation and the more than 1,000 clubs throughout the Republic.

A GAA spokesman yesterday confirmed that the organisation was involved in detailed discussions with Access. He said he hoped a decision on a deal could be reached within a few weeks.

Access believes it can attract tens of thousands of residential customers by using the marketing power of the GAA, which has clubs in most Irish villages.

The company, which is headed by Irish telecoms entrepreneur Mr Seán Bolger, has already signed a similar cut-price affinity deal with the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association.

Access also offers telecoms services to corporate customers and is planning to use the GAA deal as a way to break into the residential telecoms market.

Details of the line rental and call charges that Access will offer GAA members who sign up for the deal are not known, but the firm claims to offer savings of up to 30 per cent on Eircom's prices.

Access is the latest telecoms venture run by Mr Bolger, who co-founded the Irish firm International Telecommunications, which was later sold to GTS.

The latest financial accounts for Access show that it had accumulated losses of €4.3 million at the end of April 2003, up from €1.1 million a year earlier.

The proposed GAA deal is the latest in a series of commercial affinity deals involving Irish-based organisations, which seek to use their membership to either get discounts for their members or raise additional cash.

The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland offer their members discounts worth up to 40 per cent through a deal struck with MCI, formerly known as WorldCom.