EIRCOM HAS REFUNDED over 11,000 customers who each suffered phone-line outages lasting more than 10 days.

The former state-owned telecoms provider struck an out-of-court settlement last year with industry watchdog ComReg to pay back customers whose services had been disrupted.

The agreement covered the period between December 2013 and April 2014, when parts of the country were lashed by heavy storms. Going forward, the settlement will also include any customers affected from 31 October last year until the end of 2015.

Eircom has since told the regulator that it refunded just over €700,000 to 11,607 retail and wholesale customers who suffered outages.

But ComReg confirmed some had to wait up to a year for their money back after the loss of service with the refunds only processed in December or January this year.

Eircom is the dominant fixed phone-line provider in the country with nearly 1.3 million customers in total, although its client base has been steadily shrinking.

Eircom Eircom

The company is legally required to provide a basic level of connectivity to all users under its Universal Service Obligation.

Comreg said it expected other fixed-line providers which used Eircom’s wholesale network to pass on the refunds to their own retail clients.

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