Every electronic communications provider is required by law to report to ComReg every six months on what customer complaints it has received, and the regulator is currently updating the requirements.
ComReg said it needs clear, comprehensible, reliable and comparable complaints data in order to do its work. The information must be comprehensive enough to allow for cross comparability among providers.
Even though the obligation has been in place for two years, and ComReg has published guidance in how to keep complaints logs, it says there have been “inadequacies, inconsistencies and variances” in the data handed in by some firms.
Consequently, “the aims of obtaining clear, comprehensible, reliable and comparable complaints data are undermined”.
Six companies made submissions to ComReg during a consultation phase. These were An Post Mobile, Eir, Vodafone, Sky, Three and Virgin Media.
In its submission, Vodafone said ComReg had not engaged with it in order to understand the context around complaints, and wondered if that was going to continue being the case. “It should be made very clear that a much higher bar for comparability is required if ComReg intend at any stage to publish details regarding operator complaints data,” Vodafone added.
ComReg responded that a “higher bar” is not being sought in the updated guidelines, because the requirement to provide this data has been in place since the law was passed in 2023.
“It is for providers to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the complaints data they report,” the regulator said.
An Post Mobile said in its submission that ComReg should ensure a balance is struck between consumer protection and “not disproportionately increasing the regulatory reporting burden, particularly on the smaller providers in the mobile telecommunications sector.”
Vodafone also cited the burden being placed on firms, and called for greater engagement with operators.
Sky said that the complaints system it uses does not differentiate between fixed-voice and broadband services, and there would be many cases where a complaint relates to both. It warned against duplication in such instances, in order to “prevent inflating the number of actual complaints received within the relevant period”.
Among the clarifications in the updated requirements is that providers who receive no complaints in a six-month period still have to report to ComReg, filing a “nil” return.
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