ComReg pays staff bonuses despite row over resources

ComReg, the communications regulator under fire from the telco industry over the time it is taking to deal with complaints regarding Eir, paid its staff bonuses averaging 8 per cent last year.

This is despite the ongoing clampdown on bonuses across the public sector.

ComReg gave bonuses among its staff of about 120 throughout the recession, despite Government attempts to cut out such extra payments through public sector rules, known as Fempi.

The regulator says it is contractually bound to pay the bonuses to its staff, which amounted to €675,000 last year. It has paid about €3.5 million in bonuses in the last five years.

“Staff in ComReg are employed on individual contracts. An element of the remuneration of those contracts includes a variable element of pay based on performance,” it said.

“All staff were eligible for performance-related pay but not all staff received” it.

The regulator argued its commissioners do not receive bonuses. It also said all of its staff were subject to the public-sector pay cuts and the pension levy, along with the rest of the public sector.

Unlike most the public sector, however, it has continued to pay bonuses, despite indicating recently it may require extra resources.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) confirmed that ComReg is subject to the Fempi pay rules and its staff are considered public servants.

When asked how it was still allowed to pay bonuses despite the general clampdown on such payments to public servants, DPER referred all queries to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR).

DCENR did not respond to emails and phone calls asking if it authorised the bonus payments at ComReg, and the circumstances they are made in.

The regulator has been the subject of a stream of complaints by telcos to DCENR in recent weeks.

Several of Eir’s rivals complained to officials about the length of time it will take ComReg to make a determinsation on contentious issues surrounding the incumbent’s wholesale network.

Some have also alleged to the Government that ComReg, which is funded by a levy on the industry that is ultimately passed on to consumers, does not maximise its resources, doesn’t engage with industry properly and is often slow to deal with important issues.

“The department is sympathetic, but it doesn’t want to interfere,” said one source.

ComReg has brought in consultants to complete the major investigation into issues surrounding the possible separation of Eir’s retail and wholesale units, which won’t be finished until the end of 2016, despite the issue arising as far back as last summer.

Eir’s rivals allege that it has a dominant position while Eir itself completed a report last year identifying more than 20 instances in which its wholesale division failed to provide equal access to its rivals.

Despite Eir’s apparent admission that it has sometimes not given equal access to rivals, ComReg has angered the rest of the industry by so far failing to act quicker.

ComReg has said the issues involved are complex and it is working to carry out a review “as expeditiously as possible”.