Claim that law will stop refunds from premium phone services

CONSUMERS WHO have been overcharged or ripped off by premium-rate telephone service providers will find it more difficult to seek redress once a new communications Bill becomes law, the chairman of RegTel has claimed.

At the launch of what is expected to be its final report before its functions are transferred to telecommunications watchdog ComReg, RegTel’s chairman Fred Hayden expressed concern at the manner in which Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has introduced the Communications Regulation (Premium Rate Services) Bill 2009.

The Bill proposes an end to self-regulation by the industry, which will be supervised by ComReg.

“It is the Minister’s prerogative to bring about a re-organisation and legislative changes. But in the process he has failed to listen to the board and staff of RegTel who have direct experience of regulating a difficult sector for the past 15 years,” Mr Hayden said.

He said the new Bill “does not include the power to order refunds in cases of wrongdoing, a power that RegTel now exercises, thereby providing a powerful means of deterring wrongdoing by service providers”.

He accepted that the new legislation – which enters committee stage next week – includes “powerful sanctions” to deal with unauthorised services, but pointed out that they failed to provide redress for consumers.

Mr Hayden said that in RegTel’s experience, the aggrieved consumer “wants a refund now rather than fines on offenders sometime in the future”.

Premium rate phone service generated 76 million text messages in the Republic last year with mobile phone ring-tones, wallpapers, games and competitions and quizzes amongst the most popular services. Some providers have been accused of taking advantage of vulnerable groups who spent large sums after inadvertently subscribing to expensive services.

Over the past 10 years, €460,000 in refunds to consumers have been made via RegTel, according to the report. It notes a drop in the number of premium rate phone services delivered, with revenue down about 14 per cent and a drop of around 7 per cent in the number of complaints and queries through RegTel’s helpline.