Eircom has announced price changes which it says will lead to an average increase of 3% in customers' phone bills.
From July 1, the company is to bring in 'call rounding' for phone calls from land lines made outside the packages or bundles it offers customers. This means time spent on these calls will be rounded up and charged to the nearest minute, instead of the second as is currently the case.
Eircom says 500,000 of its customers will see no increase in charges at all as they use only minutes within their packages.
The company is also introducing new flat rate day, weekend and evening charges for calls from fixed line phones to O2, Vodafone and Meteor mobiles. Previously, Eircom charged different rates for each mobile operator.
Eircom will also bring in a call set-up fee of 4.8 cent excluding VAT for customers on its small business packages. This replaces the existing minimum fee charge of 5.33 cent excluding VAT..
Eircom says broadband, line rental and bundle subscription prices are not affected by the changes.
