Line rental just dead money

Galway businesses are needlessly paying over €3.5m in phone line rental – a facility that telecoms expert Stephen Brewer says is now as relevant as paying for a fax machine.

The former Apple board member believes that Irish companies are wasting money on line rental when technology allows them to host their business lines in the cloud, providing a far better service at a much cheaper price.

“There are over 14,500 businesses in Galway, the majority of whom are needlessly paying €20.96 per month to rent a phone line which is as relevant to modern business communications as a fax machine,” said the Managing Director Ireland of Magnet Networks.

“Even if each business only had one line, that is over €3.5m in rental a year across the county – without one call being made,” he said.

Mr Brewer was speaking at the launch of Magnet Talk, a hosted system which he claims should change the way in which business phone systems operate in Ireland.

Magnet Talk is based on a €9.95 monthly fee per user, including all the call minutes an average business will need, and runs over any provider’s existing broadband lines.

“If every business had this, it would cost businesses in Galway €1.7m for all call needs – saving over €1.9m annually,” added Mr Brewer.