Eir may have to speed up fault-repair times or face more fines

The State's largest telco, Eir, may be forced to repair 100 per cent of faults on its broadband and fixed line network within two days or face the prospect of paying fines to rival firms after a ruling by regulator Comreg.

The company has been in dispute with rival telcos – Sky, Vodafone, BT and Magnet – which use Eir’s network to deliver their own bundles.

They say the former semi-State’s fault repair times are too long and fall below European industry norms, a claim the company rejects.

In a draft determination, published late on Friday, Comreg recommended Eir pay service credits, in effect financial penalties, to rivals on all faults lasting longer than two days.

However, the regulator said the amount payable was outside the remit of its adjudications and would have to be negotiated by the parties themselves. At issue are Eir’s service-level agreements with the companies that use its network. They oblige Eir to fix 77 per cent of faults on customers’ lines within two days and 92 per cent within five days.

The non-Eir companies had wanted tighter deadlines and a stiffer penalties imposed for SLA breaches.

Eir said: “We note Comreg’s draft determination. We haven’t had an opportunity at this point to review the document in full as it is quite detailed. We have three weeks to respond to Comreg and we will use this time to compile our response.”

Comreg’s ruling is not binding on Eir and the company has the right to appeal .