The Minister for Communications, Mr Dermot Ahern has announced that flat-rate Internet access will be available to the Irish public from the end of this week.
Up until now, access to the Internet had to be paid for by the minute, but from Friday, users can be charged a fixed monthly price instead.
Mr Ahern said the new scheme would reduce the cost of Internet access for Irish users. "Flat rate is good news for consumers. Competition on pricing will drive increased Internet usage and that will be good news for the Information society, business, providers and the public at large," he said.
UTV Internet were first out of the blocks this morning with the launch of two new flat rate Internet access services.
Both UTV products are available throughout Ireland to residential and business users and include all call charges.
Eircom has also announced its intention to launch a flat rate Internet access call origination product on Friday which will allow its retail division, as well as other operators, to launch flat rate internet access products.