Virgin Media should not use technical obstacles to prevent customers switching provider, court hears

One of the biggest internet and TV service providers, Virgin Media, should not be allowed to disincentivise customers from switching to a competitor with legal, technical and practical obstacles, the High Court has heard.

Telecoms regulator, ComReg, has brought proceedings against Virgin alleging noncompliance with Universal Service Regulations because it says Virgin’s process for switching acts as a disincentive.

Virgin is opposing the proceedings.

Opening Comreg’s case on Tuesday, Paul Sreenan SC said that if a Virgin customer contacts a competitor about possibly switching they are forced to go through a process where most are persuaded to stay with Virgin through a deal.

The outlook for interest rate cuts is changing - so should Irish borrowers be worried?

---

Extend EV grant to second-hand purchases, says PwC

---

Card data suggests it’s not all doom and gloom in the hospitality sector

---

Latest euro zone inflation figures suggest ECB will move slowly on rates

---

Comreg’s objection is not to what is called this “save” activity but the way in which the activity operates to discourage switching, he said.

ComReg had concerns about this activity for some time and previously had a similar issue with Eir. That was resolved when Eir agreed to a two-stage process whereby a customer can go straight to cancellation “without hearing the sales pitch”, counsel said.

“It is essential to ensure there is an ease in switching and to do so without there being legal, technical or practical issues,” counsel said.

These include the imposition of a 30-day termination notice period before they can switch, outside of the minimum contractual period, he said. This is a dissuasive factor in switching, he said.

In its proceedings, ComReg says there is only one way customers are told they could cancel- by ringing Virgin’s 1908 number. Ninety-five per cent of customers cancel by phone but of the 5 per cent who cancel by other means Virgin still sought to call the customer.

Virgin has said there were a number of reasons for this including data protection reasons. ComReg said Virgin did not cite any particular provision to justify this claim.

ComReg said Virgin appears to believe that “when some customers call to cancel, they (the customers) are being tactical and seeking a better deal”. Therefore, Virgin considers it is part of “consumer welfare” to seek to dissuade such customers.

This approach is at odds with the practice ComReg expects to be applied in such scenarios as required by the regulations, the regulator said.

ComReg says that figures provided by Virgin show some 155,000 of its customers out of about 194,000 did not proceed to cancel on the first call. A further 7,602 cancelled on a second call. In total, 76 per cent were dissuaded from switching.

As a result of Virgin’s failure to remedy the noncompliance, ComReg brought proceedings seeking orders that it do so.

The hearing before Mr Justice Denis McDonald continues.