Latest news with #Comreg
BreakingNews.ie
20 hours ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Sky Ireland tells court it is not obliged to give end of contract notice
The Communications Regulator is seeking High Court orders requiring Sky Ireland Ltd to end its practice of automatically renewing customers' contracts without first informing them their contracts are about to end or of alternative tariffs. Comreg claims Sky is in breach of 2022 EU regulations requiring communications service providers to inform consumers in a prominent and timely manner of the end of the contractual commitment and means by which to terminate the contract. Advertisement It says Sky is also contravening the regulations by failing to provide consumers with "best tariff advice" before the contract is automatically prolonged. They are the only one of the five big providers refusing to do so, Comreg says. Sky disputes Comreg's interpretation of the relevant legal provisions and says they only apply to contracts with a fixed duration. Its customers' contracts are subscription contracts of indeterminate duration, it says. The regulations, Sky argues, are designed to address the potential harm of consumers getting automatically prolonged in the contract for a second term without their knowledge. Advertisement This harm does not arise in relation to Sky customers as its contracts do not follow this type of model in Ireland, it argues. It also says the ultimate interpretation of the regulations is for the courts to decide. On Monday, Mr Justice Mark Sanfey admitted Comreg's proceedings against Sky to the fast track Commercial Court on the application of Eoin McCullough SC, for the regulator, and on consent from Andrew Fitzpatrick SC, for Sky. The case was adjourned to December. In an affidavit seeking entry of the case to the commercial list, Miriam Kilraine, Comreg compliance operations manager, said the purpose of end of contract information and best tariff advice, when a contract is nearing end and about to be "auto-prolonged", is that customers are afforded an opportunity of making an informed decision to stay with their current provider on the same or different package or to switch to a new provider. Advertisement This is important particularly as customers may be losing discounts and therefore incurring higher prices and, in the case of Sky customers, this could include bundled TV, broadband and telephone services, she said. As part of its review and enforcement functions, Comreg began an investigation last September and Virgin Media, Eircom, Three and Vodafone all confirmed they are in compliance but Sky said it did not do so. Further investigations into Sky followed and in December Sky said it would not be complying because of its interpretation of the regulations. Entertainment Former Sky News host Dermot Murnaghan diagnosed wi... Read More Ms Kilraine said it is clear there is a fundamental disagreement between the parties regarding the interpretation of the relevant legal provisions in this case. It is Comreg's position that Sky has failed and continues to fail to comply with its obligations under the 2022 regulations, she said. She also said Sky's UK arm, Sky UK Ltd, has taken a different position to its Irish counterpart and provides best tariff information to its customers. This followed enforcement action against Sky UK by the UK watchdog, Ofcom, in 2021 which concluded in Ofcom's favour last December, Ms Kilraine said.
Irish Independent
21 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Sky argues customers don't have to be told contracts are renewing
Comreg claims Sky is in breach of 2022 EU regulations requiring communications service providers to inform consumers in a prominent and timely manner of the end of the contractual commitment and means by which to terminate the contract. It says Sky is also contravening the regulations by failing to provide consumers with "best tariff advice" before the contract is automatically prolonged. Sky is the only one of the five big providers refusing to do so, Comreg says. Sky disputes Comreg's interpretation of the relevant legal provisions and says they only apply to contracts with a fixed duration. Its customers' contracts are subscription contracts of indeterminate duration, it says. The regulations, Sky argues, are designed to address the potential harm of consumers getting automatically prolonged in the contract for a second term without their knowledge. This harm does not arise in relation to Sky customers as its contracts do not follow this type of model in Ireland, it argues. It also says the ultimate interpretation of the regulations is for the courts to decide. On Monday, Mr Justice Mark Sanfey admitted Comreg's proceedings against Sky to the fast track Commercial Court on the application of Eoin McCullough SC, for the regulator, and on consent from Andrew Fitzpatrick SC, for Sky. The case was adjourned to December. In an affidavit seeking entry of the case to the commercial list, Miriam Kilraine, Comreg compliance operations manager, said the purpose of end of contract information and best tariff advice, when a contract is nearing end and about to be "auto-prolonged", is that customers are afforded an opportunity of making an informed decision to stay with their current provider on the same or different package or to switch to a new provider. This is important particularly as customers may be losing discounts and therefore incurring higher prices and, in the case of Sky customers, this could include bundled TV, broadband and telephone services, she said. As part of its review and enforcement functions, Comreg began an investigation last September and Virgin Media, Eircom, Three and Vodafone all confirmed they are in compliance but Sky said it did not do so. Further investigations into Sky followed and in December Sky said it would not be complying because of its interpretation of the regulations. Ms Kilraine said it is clear there is a fundamental disagreement between the parties regarding the interpretation of the relevant legal provisions in this case. It is Comreg's position that Sky has failed and continues to fail to comply with its obligations under the 2022 regulations, she said. She also said Sky's UK arm, Sky UK Ltd, has taken a different position to its Irish counterpart and provides best tariff information to its customers. This followed enforcement action against Sky UK by the UK watchdog, Ofcom, in 2021 which concluded in Ofcom's favour last December, Ms Kilraine said.
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Amazon seeks permission for a Cork ground station for its Starlink-competing satellite system
Amazon is seeking approval for a new ground station located in East Cork to service its new Kuiper satellite internet service, competing directly with Starlink. The retail and tech giant has sought approval from Ireland's telecommunications regulator Comreg, for a ground station that will be located at the National Space Centre in Elfordstown in Midleton. Similar to Elon Musk's Starlink internet service, Amazon said its Kuiper system will be made up of a constellation of low-earth-orbiting satellites and end-user terminals, along with earth stations to track and command the satellites and provide backhaul services. In April, Amazon launched 27 satellites into orbit with another launch to take place this week. Along with Starlink and Kuiper, a number of other companies are planning competition satellite internet programmes, including European consortium Eutelsat. If granted a licence, Amazon would have permission to operate the ground station on certain frequencies to avoid conflicting with other communication services and radio frequencies. Amazon lodged the application with Comreg in May. The regulator said its preliminary view is that the proposed ground station would not interfere to existing services and proposes to grant the licence but is seeking submissions from any interested parties by July 18. In March, Starlink lodged an application with Comreg for a ground station to be located in Killala, Co. Mayo, as it continues to expand its services. The company already operates a ground station located at Garretstown in West Cork. Amazon plans to ultimately operate a constellation of 3,236 satellites to sell internet connectivity to consumers as well as corporate and government clients through a $10bn (€8.8bn) investment. The National Space Centre (NSC) in Elfordstown provides commercial broadcast services, ground control support for satellites and spacecraft, academic research partnerships and space industry consulting. Opened in 1984, it is Europe's most westerly teleport.
The Irish Sun
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Irish Sun
New ‘scam likely' warning on text messages & bid to block all dodgy messages THIS YEAR amid Irish business SMS registry
A NEW crackdown is being launched in the war on scam texts in Ireland. Businesses unregistered with the telecoms regulator will see their mass-texts to customers slapped with 'scam likely' warnings from next month in a bid to crack down on 2 The move comes after ComReg found that there are 365,000 cases a year involving scam calls or texts Credit: Getty Images - Getty More than 7,000 businesses and organisations that send en-masse messages have pre-registered with the The Commission for Communications Regulation, Comreg. But SMS messages from unregistered companies will be labelled 'scam likely', while Comreg's SMS Sender ID registry is for use by businesses like Amazon or An Post so that they can attach a name and mobile number. But scammers can easily fake this Sender ID with the current system, leading to thousands of Irish people receiving texts that appear to be from legitimate businesses. READ MORE ON TECH The new system is designed to cut out these fake IDs so that Irish consumers won't be bombarded with scam texts. Comreg have said that mobile network providers will have the final say in what gets blocked as they will have access to the Sender ID registry. And they advised businesses that haven't registered to do so now to avoid their mass messages being labelled The move comes after ComReg found that there are 365,000 cases a year involving scam calls or texts. Most read in News Tech And more than 89million people cite 'annoying or irritating' communications because of it. They also estimate that 5,000 businesses per year are the victim of call-and-text related fraud. The average cost of Romance Scam Devastation: A Widow's Cautionary Tale ComReg chairperson Garrett Blaney said: 'ComReg is actively engaging with mobile service providers, SMS Aggregators and organisations using SMS Sender IDs to ensure that as many legitimate SMS Sender IDs as possible are registered before the 'likely scam' modification phase begins.' 2 SMS messages from unregistered companies will be labelled 'scam likely' Credit: Getty Images - Getty
Irish Independent
04-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Scam texts to be labelled from next month and blocked from October in regulator crackdown
From next month, companies that use mass-texting services and that haven't registered with the telecoms regulator will see their SMS texts to customers labelled as 'likely scam'. From October, such texts will be blocked altogether. The regulator's SMS Sender ID registry system is aimed at those who use 'Sender ID' to attach a name to a mobile number, such as Bank Of Ireland or Amazon or An Post. At present, scammers can fairly easily 'spoof' these names, which is why irish people get so many texts which appear to be from legitimate businesses and utilities but are not. In the worst cases, the spoofed SMS messages even appear in existing customer interaction conversations with the legitimate business. The new system is designed to eliminate this kind of 'spoofing', so that from October, Irish consumers won't receive fraudulent SMS text messages of this type. Comreg said that it is the mobile network operators that will ultimately block the texts, as they will have access to the register of legitimate Sender ID companies. Comreg says that any companies or organisations that haven't registered should do so now, to avoid their SMS messages being labelled or blocked. However, the new initiative won't apply to regular, private SMS numbers, meaning that a scammer who simply buys a sim card and sends out bulk SMS messages won't be affected. Comreg says that it is still waiting for legislation from the government that's needed to apply SMS 'filter' technology that could help in reducing private SMS text scamming. Comreg research found about 365,000 cases of fraud per year as a result of scam calls and texts in Ireland, with 89 million 'annoying or irritating' communications because of it. It also estimates that around 5,000 businesses per annum are the victim of fraud after receiving scam calls and texts and that the annual cost of scam texts is €115m each year, rising to €300m per year when scam calls are counted. A lot of companies rely on SMS to update customers on things like delivery updates, appointments and financial transactions, ADVERTISEMENT This business-to-customer texting, known as Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging, often includes an alphanumeric identifier or SMS Sender ID that may be the name of the company or brand that sent the message, such as BankX or DoctorY. Organisations using SMS Sender IDs in their messages to their customers are being told by Comreg that they should instruct their SMS provider to pre-register those SMS Sender IDs with the regulator now by February 25th. Otherwise, from July 3rd, SMS texts with unregistered Sender IDs will be labelled "likely scam" and October 3rd, SMS texts with unregistered SMS Sender IDs will be blocked. 'ComReg is actively engaging with mobile service providers, SMS Aggregators and organisations using SMS Sender IDs to ensure that as many legitimate SMS Sender IDs as possible are registered before the 'likely scam' modification phase begins on 3 July 2025,' said Garrett Blaney, ComReg chairperson. 'The SMS Sender ID Registry is just one of a number of interventions introduced by ComReg to help mitigate the scourge of scam phone calls and text messages.'
