THE FEE paid by telecom companies to fund the handling of emergency telephone calls is to be increased by 50 per cent from today.

The contract for operating the emergency-call answering service is held by BT Ireland.

The communications regulator, Comreg, said following a consultation process in recent months, it had increased the maximum emergency-call handling fee to €3.35 per emergency call. Up to now the fee had been €2.23. The increase will come into effect today.

The emergency-call answering service, which handles 999 calls or calls made to the European Union emergency number 112, is funded in Ireland by fees payable by the telephone-network operator and/or the telephone call service provider rather than by the consumer.

Comreg said the primary reason for the increase was the decline in the volume of emergency calls being made. The number fell from 4.8 million in 2006 to a projected three million in 2011.

The increase in the emergency-call handling fee by Comreg was criticised yesterday by the general secretary of the Communications Workers Union, Steve Fitzpatrick.

“Emergency calls were traditionally handled by Eircom for free as part of its public service remit. Comreg held a tender competition for the services in 2007; the contract was awarded to BT-Conduit, a business that refuses to allow its staff to have union recognition.

“This massive price hike will go straight to boosting the profitability of BT-Conduit and will represent a very significant increase in costs for other phone operators, many of whom are struggling in difficult market conditions.”

He called on Comreg to halt all increases in call-handling fees.