Phone costs are set to rise after Eircom said it will increase line rental charges by 7.9 per cent before VAT from March 18th.
Residential bills will climb by 2.9 per cent and business bills by 2 per cent under the €1.28 ex-VAT increase in monthly line rental, which was announced just weeks after the sector's regulator, ComReg, gave Eircom permission to ally charges to inflation.
In a separate development, ComReg revealed it has approved the rates Eircom proposes to charge rivals using its networks to provide open-ended internet access. But it directed the company to lower a number of auxiliary charges.
Noting that the levies were among the lowest in Europe, ComReg said flat-rate internet access was on course to be introduced by June 25th.
Eircom defended the increase in rental fees, saying phone line maintenance was costing it €170 million annually.
The former semi-state group also revealed it would raise the price of its directory inquiries services from 48.25 cent per call to 52 cent per call.
Call answering services will rise next month from €1.07 to €1.12 per month and handset rental will go up from €1.95 to €2.05.
It is the first price increase announced by the company for more than a year. Eircom raised monthly charges 0.6 per cent in March 2003, although call charges have fallen dramatically since the late 1990s.
