Esat BT plans to sign up 120,000 people within 18 months for a new line rental service that will enable it to provide a single telephone bill for consumers.
The firm launched its "single bill" service yesterday, which is priced at the same level as Eircom's existing line rental fee of €24.18 per month. Until recently, only Eircom had been able to offer customers a telephone line rental service, which brings a line from a local telephone exchange into a home or business.
But following intervention by the Government and the telecoms regulator, competitors are now able to rent this service from Eircom and offer it directly to households and businesses.
Esat BT's chief executive, Mr Bill Murphy, said the service would eliminate the hassle of having two telephone bills. It should also help the competitive market develop in Ireland, he added.
Mr Murphy said the cost of line rental was no different from Eircom's current charge because the wholesale charge it had to pay the firm allowed a margin of just 10 per cent. But he said there may be scope in the future to reduce the rental fee.
Esat BT is the biggest fixed-line competitor to Eircom and has about 60,000 residential customers. About 10,000 have already signed up for wholesale line rental services. Two other firms, Access Telecom and Smart Telecom, are also offering "single billing".
