Telecommunications: Ryedale

(asked on 10th February 2015) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to expedite the restoration of landline and internet services to more than 25 residences in Rillington and Sherburn in Ryedale following the breakage of a telephone pole on 20 January 2015.


Answered by
Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait
Lord Vaizey of Didcot
This question was answered on 23rd February 2015

Ofcom expects providers to resolve network faults, however caused, as quickly as possible. The regulator also expects providers to deal fairly and sympathetically with consumers who experience a loss of service as a result of network issues. This could include giving compensation or by allowing customers to exit their contract without penalty.

The Communications Act requires telecoms providers to take appropriate measures to protect the security and resilience of their networks and services. When a security or availability incident occurs which has a significant impact on the operation of a network or service, the legislation requires the provider to report this to Ofcom. Ofcom monitors these reports closely and has the power to intervene if they believe a provider is not taking the appropriate measures.

Ofcom has imposed minimum targets on Openreach requiring 80% of fault repairs to be completed within one to two working days of being notified and the company to report publicly on its performance, allowing Ofcom to monitor and intervene if required.

Consumers can pursue claims for compensation caused by line outages by contacting their communications providers. If they are unhappy with the outcome of their complaint or how their complaint has been handled, they are able to pursue the case through the registered Alternative Dispute Resolution service – a free and impartial service that Ofcom requires all communications providers to have in place.

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