Consumers who have been overcharged or ripped off by premium rate telephone service providers will find it more difficult to seek redress once a new communications Bill become law, the chairman of RegTel has warned.
At the launch of what is expected to be its final report before its functions are transferred to the telecommunications watchdog ComReg, RegTel's chairman Fred Hayden expressed concern at the manner in which the Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan had introduced the Communications Regulation (Premium Rate Services) Bill 2009.
The Bill proposes an end to self-regulation by the industry, which will in future be subject to supervision by ComReg. It proposes substantial fines for abuses by operators of popular phone services such as ringtones, wallpapers, chatlines, competitions and information services.
"It is the Minister's prerogative to bring about a reorganisation and legislative changes. But in the process the Minister has failed to listen to the board and staff of RegTel who have direct experience of regulating a difficult sector for the past 15 years," Mr Hayden said.
He said the new Bill "does not include the power to order refunds in cases of wrongdoing, a power that RegTel now exercises, thereby providing a powerful means of deterring wrongdoing by service providers".
He accepted that the new legislation – which enters its committee stage next week – includes "powerful sanctions" to deal with unauthorised services but pointed out that they failed to provide any redress for consumers.
Mr Hayden said that in RegTel's experience, the aggrieved consumer "wants a refund now rather than fines on offenders sometime in the future".
Under the Bill, premium rate service providers will require a licence. If the specified conditions are not met, the licence can be amended, suspended or revoked by ComReg.
Premium rate phone service generated 76 million text messages in the Republic last year, with mobile phone ring-tones, wallpapers, games and competitions and quizzes amongst the most popular services available.
A number of providers have been accused of taking advantage of vulnerable groups who have spent large sums after inadvertently subscribing to expensive services.
Over the past 10 years, €460,000 in refunds to consumers have been made via RegTel, according to the report. It notes a drop in the number of premium rate phone services delivered, with revenue down about 14 per cent and a drop of 7 per cent in the number of complaints and queries received through Regtel's helpline.
Subscription services continue to generate most complaints, making up 91 per cent of calls received. In the report, the regulator Pat Breen blamed some of this on a few service providers acting in breach of RegTel's Code of Practice, but also draws attention to consumer indifference to terms and conditions when signing up for services.
