The Director of Telecommunications Regulation has asked the communications company Chorus for an assurance that it will not implement a proposed monthly service charge of £2.50 (€3.17).
Customers had received a letter stating that the company was "introducing service improvements for your benefit". The benefits would include an assurance of a next-working-day response to loss of service requests (loss of service is defined as more than three TV channels) and restoration of service within 72 hours. They were informed that a new service charge of £2.50 a month would be included in their bills.
If customers opted out of this payment, then service would be provided on the basis of up to £45 charge per call-out. A spokeswoman for the Director of Telecommunications Regulation said the charge had not been approved in accordance with Chorus's licence. Chorus has until the middle of next week to respond.
Mr Willie Fagan, director of regulatory, legal and public affairs at Chorus, said he expected the matter to be resolved by the end of this week. The charge related to items which were "beyond what we are required to provide by our licence. We will also be promising a higher standard of service," he said.
Chorus customers have been telephoning RTE's Liveline programme with complaints about the charge and also about the current level of service. Mr Fagan will be on Liveline later today to respond to the complaints.
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