The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) said telecommunications provider Digicel yesterday advised that it has indefinitely halted the recent levy of a prepaid maintenance fee to customers whose monthly spend is less than J$50.

The action followed the OUR’s intervention in response to Digicel’s implementation of the fee effective June 22.

In a letter to the company, the OUR asked that it provide evidence that customers had been given sufficient advance notice, the exact amount to be charged and the basis for such a charge, the regulator said in a release.

In its initial response to the OUR, Digicel indicated it had issued a public notice on June 22, 2017 to its customers via the Digicel website, where it also updated its terms and conditions of service.

However, in response to the OUR’s correspondence, Digicel subsequently acknowledged that the implementation of the fee may not have been customer-centric and that it had not in fact provided sufficient notice of the change to its customers, the release said.

As a result, Digicel has decided to withdraw the fee at this time. It says any decision to resume charging the fee will be preceded by proper notification to customers and the OUR.

The company also gave assurances that all affected customers who have been charged the fee since June 22 have already received rebates of the amounts charged.

“Given this development, the OUR has suspended, for now, its enquiry into this matter,” the release said.

- business@gleanerjm.com [2]