Eircom breached telecoms regulations by contacting hundreds of former customers who had chosen to sign up with rival operators, it emerged yesterday.

But the firm is unlikely to face any penalty for undertaking the marketing activity after it blamed a computer-system error for the problem, according to a report by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg).

The report says ComReg uncovered the breach of regulations by Eircom following a complaint made by Smart Telecom.

A subsequent investigation by ComReg found Eircom had contacted more than 100 Smart Telecom customers within a three month "no contact" period, in breach of the regulatory code.

Under the current regulatory code of practice, Eircom has been outlawed from contacting former customers within a three-month period of them switching firms.

This is to stop Eircom agents from pressurising former customers to switch back to the firm using aggressive sales tactics.

In a response to the investigation by ComReg, Eircom said the contact within the prohibited period was due to an error in a file that was transferred from one Eircom section to another.

This meant an incorrect date was used by the firm in assessing when to contact former customers in 37,207 cases. This error gave rise to a certain number of instances where Eircom inadvertently contacted customers within a three-month period, according to the ComReg report.

ComReg said the breaches in the regulatory code were confined to a period between 24th December 2003 and April 2004.

As the systems error has been amended and Eircom now appears to be in compliance with the three-month rule, ComReg said it did not intend to take any further action.

ComReg will continue to monitor the incidence of this type of technical problem, the report added.

Alto, a telecoms lobby group representing alternative operators, said it was disappointed by the ComReg decision not to take further action against Eircom.

"This is not a once-off incident. In April and in May, ComReg found that Eircom had breached the code of practice repeatedly by making 'inaccurate and misleading statements' about competitors' services.

"These findings from ComReg point to a systematic policy within Eircom of breaching rules to unfairly win back customers. In each case, Comreg does not impose any penalty or plan any further action... It's time ComReg stopped giving Eircom the benefit of the doubt."