Cable television firm Chorus Communications has paid up to €100,000 in compensation this year to almost 9,000 cable customers in the Dublin suburbs of Malahide and Swords.

The company - which is 50 per cent owned by Independent News & Media - was forced to reduce customer's monthly bills for basic television services by 10 per cent because it failed to meet the deadline set by the telecoms regulator for upgrading its network to carry digital television.

Under the terms of a price increase sanctioned by the regulator last year, Chorus agreed to meet an upgrade schedule which would make digital available in Malahide and Swords by September 2001.

It subsequently missed this deadline and had to pay a 10 per cent rebate on monthly bills until it completed the upgrade in March 2002. The regulator ordered the firm to offer the rebates to customers last December and these should automatically have been marked on customer bills received this year.

Mr Willie Fagan, director of regulatory affairs at Chorus, confirmed the firm had made the payments yesterday.

He said the company - which lost €36.6 million last year - had now fully complied with its agreement to offer digital TV.

However, The Irish Times has learned that thousands of customers of Chorus's rival NTL who have not yet been upgraded to enable them to access digital television are unlikely to receive a similar rebate.

NTL has also failed to digitalise certain parts of its wireless network in Dublin, Mayo and Galway by an agreed deadline with the regulator. Earlier this month this prompted the regulator to issue a public rebuke to the firm.

NTL is currently engaged in discussions with the regulator on the issue and could face sanctions imposed by the regulator.

But it is understood the telecoms regulator did not attach the same rebate conditions regarding digital roll-out to NTL's revised price agreement as she did in Chorus's agreement.

NTL's agreement, which has been published on the regulator's website, shows the firm is only subject to a 10 per cent rebate if it fails to undertake remedial work on its network or improve picture quality. It does not specifically mention its digital upgrade plan.

A spokeswoman for NTL would not comment on whether the company would offer customers, who cannot access digital TV, a 10 per cent rebate. But it is understood the firm is close to resolving its current dispute with the regulator over the issue of digital TV.

A spokeswoman for the regulator said the office would conduct a full review of the company's plans to digitalise cable and wireless networks in early 2003.

Meanwhile, Mr Fagan said he would like to see operator and platform neutral regulation going forward in the Irish market.