This week has seen a flurry of activity in the telecoms sector, partly because of the Comms 99 Exhibition a three-day biennial industry showcase for the telecommunications industry.
Several companies used the exhibition as an opportunity to combine the event with their own meetings with retailers and staff. Among those hosting conferences was Eircell which announced new reduced tariff rates on their bundled airtime package. Eircell claims its new 10p tariff rate will save its customers around £10 million per year.
Eircell, which is a subsidiary of Telecom Eireann, said 75 per cent of its contract customers would benefit from the new rates. The rate, which is exclusive of VAT, only applies when customers use airtime over and above their Eirtime minutes.
Among the calls included are mobile to mobile on the Eircell network, but a more interesting move is Eircell's new tariffs on mobile to fixed lines. This is being reduced to 10p (or 12.10p) at weekends. The weekend begins at 8 p.m. on Friday and ends at 8 a.m. on Monday. The savings - once you've used your bundled minutes - are quite significant compared to the current rate and will no doubt put pressure on Esat Digifone to re-examine some of its own tariffs.
Although publicly both companies would argue that they have reduced prices significantly in the past couple of years, analysts point out that there is certainly more room for reductions. The unfortunate hold up on awarding the third mobile phone licence - currently the subject of a High Court hearing - is not helping matters either. The general view is that that real price movement will only take place when a third competitor enters the market.
Meanwhile, Esat Telecom, a joint partner in Esat Digifone announced this week that it was to enter the payphone market. It will install more than 100 payphones which will accept payment by coin, calling card or credit card.
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