What are Universal Services?

The European Regulatory Framework provides that Member States must ensure that users have access to a basic set of high quality telecommunications services, no matter where they live, at an affordable price. See European Commission website

Universal Service Provider (USP): The European Regulatory Framework provides that Member States can designate one or more operators to meet these obligations. A designated operator is known as a Universal Service Provider or ‘USP’. Under the current and proposed national framework ComReg is responsible for designating the Universal Service Provider (see www.askcomreg.ie). ComReg must also ensure that basic quality standards are adhered to by the USP.

UNIVERSAL POSTAL SERVICES IN IRELAND

An Post was nominated as USP with regards to postal services in Ireland in 2003 pursuant to European Communities (Postal Services) Regulations 2002. As the sole USP, An Post must provide a universal service to everyone and every organisation in the Republic of Ireland.

Services An Post must provide: An Post is Ireland’s universal service provider (USP).This means that An Post is obliged by law to provide certain postal services.

For everyone and every organisation in the Republic of Ireland: at least one collection and one delivery five days a week for postal items; postal packages and parcels.

For national and international services:

To clear, sort, transport and distribute:

postal items weighing up to 2kgs; and

postal packages weighing up to 20kgs with target delivery times and prices based on published rates;

To provide a number of other services, including:

redirecting post
issuing free certificates of posting
sending books abroad
minding post (Mailminder)
providing free postal service for blind or partially sighted people
business reply and freepost
private boxes or bags.

The performance targets ComReg set for An Post for the delivery of national single piece priority mail are:

94% to be delivered within one working day, and
99.5% to be delivered within three working days.

You can see the most recent results on ComReg or the An Post website

Many other postal service providers operate in Ireland, but they are not obliged to provide specific services. Anyone can set up a postal business to handle any form of postal item as long as they meet certain conditions and do not cover the services reserved to An Post.

Certain services are ‘reserved’ to An Post as the USP. These relate to national and incoming international postal items weighing 50g or less, with a price of no more than €1.37. All other postal items may be handled by any postal service provider operating in the Irish market.

In line with EU rules, the postal market in Ireland will be fully opened to competition by 1 January 2011 at the latest. From this point there will no longer be services reserved to An Post. We believe that a competitive postal market will stimulate innovation and value that should benefit all consumers (businesses and individuals).

Irish law sets out An Post’s obligations on price, quality and choice as the universal service provider.

UNIVERSAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES IN IRELAND

On 25 July 2006 ComReg issued a decision notice re-designating Eircom Limited as the Irish telecommunications USP for a period of four years ending in June 2010 in accordance with regulation 7 of the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Universal Service and Users’ Rights) Regulations 2003.

Provision of a Telephone Line On receipt of a reasonable request, Eircom must provide telephone lines to every premises throughout the State. Eircom has a dispute process to deal with any issues that arise in this context.

Provision of Public Payphones Eircom must provide payphones throughout the State to meet the reasonable needs of users in terms of geographical coverage and accessibility. In order to increase the level of transparency for users, Eircom must also publish an annual statement regarding its USO payphone strategy, including specific procedures for the removal/re-sitting of payphones (including notification to the local community) and an escalation process in the event of disputes. Eircom must also publish information on changes in its payphone base.

Provision of Directory Services Eircom must provide users with a printed phone book, free of charge, and offer directory enquiry services to users throughout the State. Every user has the right, through their line rental provider, to an entry in the telephone directory. A CD format of the directory must also be made available (a charge applies).

Provision of Services to Users with a Disability Eircom must offer particular services to ensure that users with a disability have access to Universal Services (click here for more information on Universal Services). They have also published a Code of Practice governing the provision of such services. The most current version of Eircom’s code of practice can be found Eircom’s website under “about us” - “regulatory information”.

Mechanisms to allow consumers to control their expenditure In order to assist users in controlling their telephony expenditure, Eircom is required to offer:

itemised billing, free of charge;
call barring facilities for local, national, international and mobile numbers, with the barring of premium rate calls free of charge; and
the facility for the phased payment of connection fees, via direct debit.
Eircom also publishes a policy regarding the disconnection of telephone lines for non-payment of bills.

Affordability Affordability is currently maintained through a combination of a Price Cap mechanism and the Low Users Scheme. The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs also operate a Telephone Allowance scheme.

What is a price cap? The Price Cap ensures that Eircom cannot increase the prices of a basket of services by more than the rate of inflation. Amongst the services included is the provision of telephone (PSTN) and ISDN lines, local, national, operator and fixed to mobile calls. The existing Price Cap was imposed on Eircom in February 2003 (for a period of 3 years).

What is a low users scheme? The main aim of the ’Low Users Scheme’ is to limit any increases in the size of telephone bills for all customers who have a relatively low level of usage. The Eircom scheme works as follows: if a user spends on average less then €11 a month on calls alone, they can now pay an initial subscription fee of €22.50 (incl. VAT) per month. This will include line rental, local, national, fixed to mobile and international calls up to a value of €5.00 (incl VAT). It should be noted that once a customer exceeds the €5.00 worth of free calls they will pay double on calls up to €6 - €11, after which they will revert to standard call rates.

What is the Telephone Allowance scheme? The Telephone Allowance is a payment towards your telephone bill which covers basic line rental/equipment (if applicable) charges and up to €40.82 (plus VAT) worth of calls in each two-monthly billing period or €20.41 (plus VAT) if you are billed monthly. If you have a hearing or vision impairment, the Allowance covers the cost of renting a special telephone, subject to availability. The allowance can only be awarded if the telephone is registered in your name.

The Telephone Allowance scheme is not limited to Eircom customers. You should contact your service provider to find out if they are taking part in the Telephone Allowance scheme.

See Eircom

Broadband is specifically excluded from the scope of the universal service obligations at present.