Esat Clear, the residential telephone and Internet division of Esat, has introduced a new set of customer charges effective from today. However, a number of Esat Clear customers have expressed concern that the new charges could lead to higher monthly phone bills.

Under the new tariffs, the previous minimum call charge of 5.1p for calls anywhere in Ireland has been replaced by a set-up charge of 3p on connection of every call. On top of this, Esat Clear has introduced a 3,2,1 scheme, in which calls anywhere within Ireland (including the North) will cost 3p per minute during the day, 2p per minute in the evenings and 1p per minute at weekends.

Where a one-minute call had previously cost 5.1p during the day, it will now cost 6p for the first minute, when the set-up charge is included, and 3p per minute thereafter.

The 5.1p minimum rate until now delivered a call of 2.04 minutes duration in the evening; under the new scheme, a similar call will now cost more than 7p. And where the same rate returned 2.8 minutes call time at the weekend, it will now cost 5.8p.

Last night, Ms Angela Keegan, managing director of the Esat Telecom Consumer Division, said: "Our feedback tells us 25 per cent of our customers spend less than one minute on calls, and up to 50 per cent spend less than two minutes." Esat Clear has also announced it is discontinuing its volume discount offer, whereby customers billed £35 or more received a 7.25 per cent discount, and customers spending £45 or more received a 12.5 per cent discount.

Instead, Esat Clear has introduced an automatic 15 per cent discount on calls to international destinations for customers who spend £5 or more per month on international calls.