More than 300,000 NTL cable customers in Dublin, Galway and Waterford will face a 9 per cent price rise for basic television services from January 1st, 2003, writes Jamie Smyth.
The price increase is a blow to consumers who already face major rises in electricity charges from January, and higher charges on a range of goods and services due to the 1 per cent increase in the VAT rate levied in the Budget.
NTL's move comes just weeks after a 15 per cent price rise announced by its rival, Chorus. Both Chorus and NTL raised the price of their basic television package by up to 30 per cent in late 2000.
Mr Dermot Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers' Association of Ireland, said the increase in television prices would cause difficulties for consumers coming on the heels of other price increases.
"There will have to be a degree of budgeting for people in the new year because of these price increases ... It is also not helping our competitiveness," he added.
Mr Jewell also criticised the scale of the increase which he said should have been at 5 per cent to follow inflation.
But a spokeswoman for NTL said the price changes for cable were fair and reasonable and followed inflation. "It amounts to just four cents per day and, when you compare it to Chorus's recent price increase, it is very small in comparison," she said.
Under NTL's new price plan, the cost of its basic monthly analogue television package will increase to €17 from the current rate of €15.63. A customer who pays an annual subscription will pay €189 from January, compared to a current rate of €174.12.
NTL has reduced the cost of its digital television package to persuade existing analogue customers to transfer to the new technology, which it claims offers better picture quality.
NTL's basic Digital package will now cost consumers €28.50 per month, down from the current rate of €29.81.
There will also be a reduction in the price of some of NTL's premium digital packages which include movies and sports, said the NTL spokeswoman.
Higher prices for the more than 500,000 television customers of Chorus and NTL may also put pressure on the domestic inflation rate of 4.6 per cent, which is already the highest in Europe.
NTL Ireland, which is part of the NTL Group, faces major cashflow issues as its parent struggles to emerge from bankruptcy protection in the US.
It recently decided to withdraw from the residential telephone market to conserve cash, and the latest price rise should help it increase its turnover and cut its ballooning losses.
