Students who are caught tampering with public telephones will be prosecuted.
Thousands of pounds of potential revenue have been lost by Telecom Éireann due to the illegal actions of students on campuses across Ireland.
Last Christmas the company discovered that third level students had deciphered the code for public phones and were bypassing the system to make international phone calls for free.
Some inventive individuals used combinations of freephone numbers, says Denis Murphy President of University College Dublin (UCD) Students Union. Others went a step further,
A few bright sparks taking the microchips out of telephones and freezing them and sticking them back in again.
The number may be up for students as the telephone company will prosecute anyone tampering with the state's telephone network, says Brian Curran of Telecom Éireann.
It is our policy to prosecute anybody found defrauding the service.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 25 February 1992. The reporter is Michael O'Kane.
