Dome is claiming that for five years Eircom has been passing on extra charges to it whenever people make calls from payphones using Dome phonecards, but that it doesn’t pass on these charges to foreign-based phonecard companies that sell their products here, therefore making it more difficult for Dome to compete.
Eircom said: “We deny these allegations (of discriminatory pricing) and we will vigorously defend the case.” Dome Telecom declined to comment.
Industry sources said other Irish telecom companies, unhappy at the way Eircom passes on the charges — known as “off-book prices” — to them are believed to be awaiting the outcome of the Dome case before launching legal challenges of their own.
“If Eircom loses, it could open up the floodgates for other telecom companies. It could cost them tens of millions,” said one industry source.
Eircom is believed to have received permission from Comreg, the communications regulator, to pass on these off-book prices to Irish operators, but the Dome case centres on whether or not Eircom also passes them on to foreign telecoms companies, or its own downstream operations.
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Dome is currently seeking discovery of documents from Eircom to prove its case.
Tom Hickey, chairman of Alto, the industry group that represents alternative operators in the telecoms market, said: “If Dome is successful, it will prove that there is an issue for the other operators. There could be more than one company in the same situation.”
The case is still at an early stage and no date has been set for a full hearing.