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The telecoms regulator aligns with Eir, the country's largest telecommunications company, to find out if it should be required to provide public payphones.
Eir said that he was going to remove all public and private payphones, and on a case by case basis ", if it is no longer designated as a universal provider of such a service by ComReg .
Eir claims that the operation and maintenance of public and private payphones are now unprofitable.
The telecommunications company criticized ComReg's recent decision to extend its obligations to provide public payphones for three months, until the end of September, after the expiry of an existing agreement on June 30th.
The regulator said that Eir's badertion, late June, about his wish to no longer be responsible for public payphones represented new information.
Eir says that ComReg was aware of his position since February and that a letter sent to the Regulator on June 21 gave only clarifications on his views on the future of pay phones and he simply stated that it was obvious.
It seems clear to Eir that ComReg is simply looking for an excuse to hide maladministration. Gary Eealy, who is the director of regulation and public policy of Eir
Eir says that the regulator has not followed the official procedure by imposing an extension of regulatory obligations to the company. ;business.
ComReg does not appear to be following fair procedures and has exhibited prejudice and prejudice, "said Healy.
Eir baderts that the transfer of ComReg from its designation as a universal payphone provider is illegal and the regulatory body must demonstrate that there is still a need for such services.
Without any obligation to operate public payphones, Eir says it would act "as a responsible commercial operator, in the approach of providing payphones". However, ComReg claims that Eir did not provide it with enough details as to what its public telephone approach would be if it was not obliged to exploit them and if it "would meet the reasonable needs of end-users" .
In 2014, ComReg informed Eir that the number of public payphones in use at that time should be maintained unless their use is below a specified level.
Eir is allowed to remove a payphone when its use in the previous six months is lower.
It is also permitted to remove phones when there is evidence of antisocial behavior or when their withdrawal is requested by a local authority.
In 2016 – the latest year for which figures are available – 900 payphones in the country, including one-third in Dublin. In 1965, as part of a rationalization program, Eir withdrew 2,000 of the 3,500 payphones
ComReg said that people still use public payphones because they do not have to pay for it. have no credit call or bad service. Signal, while they were also used by people who do not have landline or mobile phones, including vulnerable citizens, such as the homeless.
Freefone number calls represent 50% of calls made from public phones. obligation to ensure that it is possible to make emergency calls and access inquiries from public phones.
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