Eircom rapped again for licence breach over carrier pre-selection
Wednesday January 28 2004
ComReg said yesterday that Eircom's field sales teams had misled customers when comparing the cost of calls between the incumbent and competitor Cinergi Telecom.
Previously, the incumbent had breached the terms of its licence in relation to CPS during a sales campaign to win back customers who had switched to other telecoms providers when the system was introduced back in 2000.
At the time, the regulator upheld allegations by Ocean, now a subsidiary of Esat BT, that Eircom's retail staff was able to receive information on its competitor's customers from other sections of the company.
The regulatory body added yesterday that Eircom had misled the customers by quoting Cinergi Telecom's minimum call charge as being 6.4c instead of 6.35c, the same rate as Eircom's at the time.
A spokesman for the regulator's office said there would be no fine as a result of the breach because the problem has since been rectified.
Eircom blamed the incident on an "administrative oversight".
The breach comes at a time when the company's competitors and pressure groups alike have consistently accused it of dragging its heels in the opening of the line rental market through single billing.
- Ailish O'Hora
