Eircom plans to slash the monthly wholesale and retail rents for high-speed internet lines to €23 and €39.99 from the beginning of March, the company revealed at the weekend.
It also plans to introduce a new €60 broadband connection fee when its current €20 promotion ends in March. It cut the charge from €150 last autumn, effectively allowing its retail arm and independent providers to offer free broadband connection.
Eircom, which owns the Republic's largest fixed-line telecoms network, said yesterday that it planned to cut the monthly rent for broadband lines that it charges independent telecom companies from €27 to €23. At the same time, Eircom Retail will cut its rent to €39.99 from €54.45.
The new charges will be subject to approval by communications industry regulator, ComReg. Assuming the company gets this, they will be introduced on March 1st next.
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Eircom commercial director, Mr David McRedmond, claimed that this would make the Republic the fifth cheapest in the EU for broadband services.
Last month, the company announced that it planned to roll out broadband to 150 towns across the State by March 2005. Mr McRedmond predicted that the roll-out, combined with the price cuts, would give extra momentum to the rate at which Irish people are taking up broadband.
"We will hit the EU average take-up rate for broadband by the end of 2004," he said. "The EU average is 6 per cent to 7 per cent of telecoms customers. We are currently at 2 per cent, but we have moved very fast from 1 per cent to 2 per cent. The rate of take up has been very strong and we expect that this will give it extra momentum."
The company has already set itself a target of 100,000 broadband users by the end of this year. Mr McRedmond said that 35,000 were already signed up and predicted that the target should easily be achieved.
He added that the Government Information Society Commission's target of 120,000 users by 2005 was "not ambitious enough" given the current rate of broadband take-up in the country.
Eircom estimates that it will enable up to 1.5 million telephone lines for broadband technology by mid 2005. It plans to offer the service to all towns with more than 1,500 people by that time.
At the same time, the Government is rolling out its own network to 80 towns in the State at a cost of €140 million.
In addition, both the Government and Eircom have plans to offer the technology to small rural communities where enough people in a given area express interest in getting the service.
In its last report, the National Council for Competitiveness highlighted poor broadband access as a bar to economic development and urged the Government to address the problem.
