New Zealand Telco Overbills Subscribers

elecom New Zealand Limited (Telecom) has entered into a settlement with the local regulator, Commerce Commission, after it admitted violating a law by misleading its customers about the amount of broadband data they used. The telecommunications provider blamed inaccurate readings for roughly 97,000 customers on a software fault in broadband data usage meters and discovered the errors after receiving a number of complaints from customers, according to the Commerce Commission. Thanks to the inaccurate readings, about 47,000 customers were charged overage and early termination fees and adversely impacted in several other ways. The Commerce Commission said Telecom owned up to its mistake in June 2011 and pledged to refund customers. Customers already have received more than $2.7 million in refunds. “Telecom brought this issue to our attention as soon as they were made aware by their customers and have cooperated fully with the Commission," Commerce Commission Competition Manager Stuart Wallace said in a statement released Wednesday. “Due to Telecom’s immediate admission of a breach of the Fair Trading Act, followed by appropriate compensation to customers, the settlement is the best possible outcome for those customers and avoids potentially lengthy and costly court hearings paid for by taxpayers."