ComReg today published the outcome of its assessment of Eircom’s 2015 compliance with the annual performance targets set out in Performance Improvement Plan 3. These relate to the provision of Universal Service Obligations by Eircom.
Eircom submitted a force majeure claim in June 2016 and sought relief in respect of fault repair time performance only. The submission set out the basis for Eircom’s force majeure claim as being the “exceptional weather events in January, November and December 2015.” In addition Eircom submitted an expert report on the weather conditions associated with the force majeure claim.
In response ComReg formed the view that it could be considered that force majeure conditions applied in the month of December 2015 but that the January and November 2015 weather events did not constitute force majeure events within the meaning of the Performance Improvement Programme (PIP3).
Eircom paid ComReg a penalty of €3,094,000 in December 2016 for its failure to meet the PIP3 agreed USO quality of service performance targets for 2015.In light of the above, ComReg does not intend to take further enforcement action against Eircom for the 2015 period.
ComReg will continue to closely monitor Eircom’s USO performance and will publish quarterly reports on its USO performance.
