3 Ireland is to hike some monthly phone bills by 25%.

The increase will apply to sim-only customers on bill-pay from June in a bid to even out pricing with O2 Ireland bills - which 3 Ireland recently took over.

The company says the hikes are required in order to meet costs, including investing in the 4G network.

Earlier this year, 3 Ireland absorbed 1.5 million O2 Ireland customers in a €850m takeover.

In a statement, 3 Ireland say: "We can confirm that there have been price increases for some of our services. Our priority is to provide services that are affordable, accessible and relevant to our customers."

"The increases are essential to ensure continued investment in our network and services so that we can create a state of the art super-fast 4G network to suit our customers’ usage needs."

Adrian Weckler is technology editor with the Irish Independent.

He says there is more to it.