IrelandOffline today received their copy of an authoritative survey published recently in Geneva by the International Telecommunications Union, The ITU is the global Telecommunications standards and information body.
Finally Ireland leads the way, at least in one field. We are now officially the Most Expensive Country in the World in which to rent a telephone line and make a few local calls. We are the 17th most expensive country in the World for prepaid mobile phone calls. 150 countries were surveyed in all.
Commenting on the survey IrelandOffline Chairperson Eamonn Wallace said ”These figures are simply disgraceful but sadly they are very much as expected. They confirm the information in our recent Press Releases that Irish Phone line Rental is the ripoff of the century.”
IrelandOffline strongly condemns this rip off , especially as we have to question the service levels we get for our exorbitant line rental cost. This report comes at a time when Ireland is facing grave challenges in maintaining a competitive environment in many areas. Wallace continued “The ITU conduct this survey every two years and we will therefore remain in this ignominious top position until 2011″.
As IrelandOffline exclusively revealed last week the number of line faults is now so great that Comreg no longer publish them. We are again calling on Comreg to publish these figures as they are required to do by the EU. Wallace added “Regulators such as Comreg must represent the interests of Irish Consumers and Irish Businesses as a starting principle and not as an optional add on package or an inconvenience. Clearly their emphasis on promoting competition has failed to deliver a competitive environment and once again Irish consumers are suffering from inflated prices”.
Wallace went on to say “it is long past time that strong legislation be brought in to direct Comreg to reduce line rental prices to the EU average immediately. There is a precedent here in Ireland for such a move, as the Minister recently directed that electricity prices also be reduced.”
IrelandOffline is also calling for a root and branch reform of the system of “gentlemanly regulation” especially in the field of telecommunications, this should include the abolition of Comreg and other regulators and a replacement system that focuses on the consumer as its primary objective be put in place. The Financial Regulator is clearly not the only Regulator in Ireland that suffers from Regulatory Capture. The consumers of Ireland simply cannot afford to pay any longer for the total failure of our “gentlemanly” regulatory system
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