O2 to abolish roaming tariffs
At flipping last, I have to go through the North nearly every weekend on my way home and was getting charged roaming fees and that was when answering a call!
Quote:
HUNDREDS of thousands of O2 Ireland's customers are set to benefit from a decision by the company to abolish roaming tariffs for its 1.6m customers on calls they receive when travelling in the North.
However, the fact that the benefits will not extend to over 1m of its pre-paid customers who make calls and texts back to the Republic when travelling in Northern Ireland has drawn sharp criticism from lobby groups.
The Consumers Association of Ireland has lashed out at O2 Ireland's new "limited" approach to abolishing roaming charges for its customers when travelling in the North. Pre-paid customers account for about 70pc of the 4m mobile users in Ireland.
And the EU Commission is planning to introduce measures that will mean international charges would be no higher than national charges across the 25 states.
The issue of overcharging while travelling abroad first emerged in 2004 when Vodafone Ireland and O2 Ireland combined charged 92,000 of their customers.
Since then a number of calls have been made by consumer bodies and within Government for the abolishment of overcharging for calls abroad.
Vodafone said yesterday that it currently offers customers two tariff options for roaming - Ireland-Wide and Passport. Through this latest move, O2 Ireland has withdrawn the charges for its bill pay customers who make calls to the Republic while in Northern Ireland, but pre-paid customers will pay a flat rate of 39c for calls and texts back to the Republic.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern criticised the fact that the decision does not benefit O2 subscribers in the North who would still pay the roaming charges when travelling to the Republic. There are up to 100,000 O2 Ireland and Vodafone Ireland customers in Border towns.
Customers
"As it stands, only Southern companies and mobile users stand to benefit from these moves," he said.
Danuta Gray, chief executive of O2 Ireland, said that pre-paid customers, generally, do not roam as much as contract customers.
"We looked at usage patterns before making this decision. As well, the current flat rate of 99c has been reduced to 39c."
O2 Ireland added that it is also abolishing roaming charges for business customers travelling between Ireland and Britain, and all of the new changes will be introduced in April.
The O2 changes come just days after the Taoiseach expressed his frustration at mobile phone regimes that profit from partition. He has discussed the issue with Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain.
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independe...issue_id=13649
