Over 55,000 Smart Telecom telephone subscribers will have a partial service reconnected within three days, according to the telecoms regulator ComReg, writes Paul Cullen.
The customers, who lost their connection on Monday after a billing row between Smart and Eircom, will be able to make local and national calls, ComReg said last night.
However, under interim arrangements being provided by Eircom, they will not be able to make international calls. Efforts to find a temporary fix for Smart's broadband customers will be made today.
Smart has been in deep financial difficulty, with its biggest shareholder, Brendan Murtagh, providing up to €3 million a month to keep it afloat. Last night, it appeared that a consortium led by Mr Murtagh had agreed to refinance the company, thereby drawing it back from the brink of liquidation.
ComReg says that once the interim arrangements are in place, customers will be able to select any telephone provider of their choice. "This will provide operators with an opportunity to inform customers of the range of different products and services that are available in the marketplace," a spokesman said.
The arrangements were worked out yesterday in talks between ComReg and Eircom, which controls fixed-line telephone services in the Republic. Eircom, which leased out some of its lines to Smart until these were disconnected without warning on Monday, says Smart owes €4 million, with arrears totalling €1.7 million.
It claims the debt is costing the company €80,000-€100,000 a day. Earlier, talks involving Smart, Eircom and ComReg had failed to resolve the debt issue. Eircom, ComReg and the smaller telecoms companies yesterday sought to deflect blame for the situation. Eircom said it told ComReg of its intention to end Smart Telecom's service a month ago and asked the regulator to prepare an emergency plan.
It also claimed its hands were tied because telecoms regulations prevented it from simply switching Smart customers back on to its own network. "Other operators want a crack at these customers and we are obliged to help people to transfer to an operator of their choice," a spokesman said.
ComReg said it was precluded from getting involved in what was a commercial issue between two companies. Sources also said that while Eircom made multiple threats to terminate the service, "only one was acted upon".
Meanwhile, independent telecoms operator Swiftcall described the situation as a disgrace. "Things should never have got to this stage and it's terrible customers have been treated like this," said chief executive Tommy Tuite. "Because of this, thousands of consumers may spend 10 days without a service." ComReg has advised affected customers to visit its website www.askcomreg.ie for advice on finding a new service provider.