News

President of Institute of Technology Carlow welcomes increased supports from telecom providers during COVID-19

15/04/2020 16:29:00
The President of Institute of Technology Carlow, Dr. Patricia Mulcahy, has welcomed today’s announcement by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Richard Bruton TD of increased supports from telecom providers during Covid-19.   
 
“As our students and staff prepare for online examination and assessments in the days and weeks ahead, I welcome today’s commitment by the major providers to provide extra capacity where needed, ensuring our students have strong and effective internet and broadband service before and during their exams without the worry of poor connectivity and of being penalised financially for the increased use of online resources”, said Dr. Mulcahy.
 
“Access to specific IT Carlow resources, such as Blackboard, Turnitin, One Drive and various library online resources will now be zero-rated and students will not lose any of their allowance – and suffer unnecessary financial outlay - by accessing these sites. These measures are most welcome at what is a stressful time for students and a new departure for them as examinations and assessments go online”, she added.  
 
“ I also welcome the commitment by the providers of affordable unlimited mobile data access, traffic management measures to avoid network congestion, access to educational resource websites and the commitment to engage with customers in financial difficulty”, added Dr. Mulcahy. 
 
Today’s Covid-19 consumer commitments from the major telecom providers in Ireland ( BT Ireland, Eir, Pure Telecom, Sky Ireland, Tesco Mobile Ireland, Three Ireland, Virgin Media Ireland and Vodafone) include:
 
1. Any fixed broadband customers who do not have unlimited usage already as standard will be given the opportunity, if they require, to upgrade their package (which may be on a temporary basis), with their current service provider
 
2. Any customer who does not have fixed broadband and who relies solely on mobile access to the Internet will have the opportunity to avail of affordable unlimited mobile data access/package from their service provider
 
3. Fair usage policies will not be automatically applied to unlimited fixed and mobile data packages
 
4. Service providers may implement appropriate permitted traffic management measures to avoid network congestion
 
5. Access to healthcare and educational resource websites identified by the Government will be zero-rated for all customers where technically feasible.
 
6. So that customers can remain connected during the crisis, service providers will engage with any customer that contacts them who is in financial difficulty as a result of Covid-19 and has difficulty paying their bills to agree the best way of keeping them connected to voice and data.
 
7. Service Providers will work with ComReg in the event of complaints raised to ComReg by consumers, who consider they are not being treated in accordance with these commitments.
 
The commitments will be implemented by operators as soon as possible, and will remain available to consumers until 30 June 2020 and reviewed in advance of that date, if needed.
 
Customers experiencing issues should contact their service provider in the first instance, before contacting ComReg's Consumer Care Team at consumerline@comreg.ie or 01 8049668 (from 8.00am to 8.00pm Monday to Friday, and 9.00am to 1.00pm on Saturday, excluding public holidays).