ComReg ‘disturbed’ by Eircom’s high fault rate


9 Jan 2008

The telcoms regulator ComReg has expressed concern over the high fault rate in Eircom’s residential sector telephone lines, as well as the number of line faults in the business sector which it says is “of most concern”.

As the designated Universal Service Provider (USP) for Ireland since 2003 Eircom is required to fulfil certain obligations, one of which included the publishing of data on major issues such as installation times, number of line faults reported and repair times.

According to this information, since the incumbent telecoms provider’s last performance report, line faults in the business sector had doubled in the first half of 2007.

“Turning to Eircom’s reported performances for the first half of 2007 ComReg is disturbed to note the high fault rate in the residential segment and, of most concern, the significant increase in the fault rate occurrence for the business segment,” says John Doherty, chairperson of ComReg.

While the percentage of residential lines reporting faults fell from 7.5pc to 6.2pc from the first quarter of 2007 to the second quarter, there was an alarming rate of 6.2pc line faults on business lines in quarter 2 compared with only 3.1pc for quarter 1.

However, ComReg last year proposed performance targets that would require Eircom to adhere to deadlines on reparation of line faults and installation, a move that should improve the current situation.

By Marie Boran