ITSPA, the trade body for the next generation communications industry, welcomed Ofcom’s confirmation today that they will implement the voluntary industry proposals – put together by BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Zen Internet - for automatic compensation for broadband and landline customers who lose their service or experience delays in installation or missed appointments. However, they went on to call for further clarity around the compensation obligations on Openreach for faults which occur due to problems with underlying infrastructure rather than providers’ own networks.
The Chair of ITSPA, Eli Katz, stated that “ITSPA welcomes this important step towards increased protection and redress for consumers who are left without a service due to no fault of their own. This approach goes towards assuring continuity of our members’ services. However, ITSPA is disappointed that Ofcom has not been clear on how the regime will be applied to underlying infrastructure providers, such as Openreach, as it is on their networks that faults usually occur. It is a shame that clear rules regarding their payment obligations have not been set out”.
