Printed in the Business Monday newspaper on, May 17th, 2010

 The Commission issued a new Standards of Service decision which came into effect on April 01, 2010 to replace the 2006 Standards of Service decision. In coming to this decision the Commission had at its disposal information gathered from reports as well as from the consultation period.

Section 3 (1) of the Utilities Regulation Act, CAP.282 gives the Commission the authority to determine service standards, monitor those standards to ensure compliance and to carry out periodic reviews of both rates and principles of Standards of Service.

The Commission’s staff also carried out research on quality of service issues both within the region and internationally to ensure that the new Standards of Service are in line with current best practices. As with the Standards of Service issued in June 2006, the new Standards of Service for C&W are divided into two classes: Guaranteed Standards of Service (GTS) and Overall Standards of Service (OTS).

The Guaranteed Standards require that C&W make a compensatory payment to each individual customer affected by the company’s failure to meet the target set for the individual standard. Overall Standards of Service are designed to reflect the overall performance of the company and are not defined by the service an individual customer receives. These standards allow the Commission to assess the quality of service provided by the company. In this new decision relating to C&W, the Commission has made changes to both the Guaranteed and the Overall Standards of Service. T

he standard for installation of service has been split into two standards: GTS 1A and GTS 1B in order to separate the submission and approval of an application from the installation of the telephone service. This change is aimed at reducing incidences of customers experiencing delays in receipt of their telephone service.

GTS 1A relates to the time it should take for an application for telephone service to be approved. The target is seven working days for residential applications and five working days for business applications. When the company fails to meet this standard, the applicant must be refunded the application fee. GTS 1B refers to the length of time between the approval of an application for service and the actual installation of the service. The target is seven working days for residential applications and five working days for business applications. C&W must compensate customers by refunding them the first month’s charge if this standard is not met.

Changes have also been made with regard to fault repair. Under GTS 2 in the 2006 Standards of Service decision, customers were compensated for each block of 12 hours for businesses and 15 hours for residences whenever the standard was not met. The new Standards of Service require that compensation be prorated on an hourly basis after the target times have been exceeded, thereby providing greater compensation to the customer and a greater incentive for the company to quickly repair the fault.

Under the 2006 Standards of Service, customers were required to complete a claim form and submit to C&W. The Commission has determined that some customer claims will be automated. In the first instance automated compensation will apply to the Standard of Service for Installation of Service (GTS 1B) and the Standard of Service for Reconnection after Disconnection (GTS 6). These were chosen as the Commission felt that customers who have been affected by breaches under these standards could be more easily identified. Consequently, customers should continue to submit claim forms for breaches under the other standards.

Overall Standards of Service have also been revised with the introduction of two new standards: Customer Service Response Time (OTS 6) and IVR Response Time (OTS 7). OTS 6 refers to the time it takes for a customer service representative to respond to a customer’s call from the time the customer hears the telephone ring. The target for this Standard of Service states that at least 80% of calls must be answered by a service representative within 60 seconds of being handed off by the IVR to the service representative queue. The IVR (Interactive Voice Response System) is the automated recording that prompts the customer to identify their problem. OTS 7 refers to the time it takes for the IVR to respond to calls made by customers to C&W’s 1-800 number. The target for this Standard of Service states that at least 80% of calls to the customer care number must be answered by the IVR within 30 seconds of making the call.

The new Standards of Service decision is expected to improve the quality of service which C&W delivers to its customers. Information on the new Standards of Service can be downloaded from the Commission’s website.