Vodafone to pay €400,000 data roaming charge in Ireland

Vodafone has been ordered to pay €400,000 ($528,000) to the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) in Ireland for failing to automatically apply a spending cap of €50.00 to all data roaming customers who had not chosen to opt out of the data cap.

ComReg required operators to put into place the “default spend cap” in order to counteract “bill shock” and the regulator found that Vodafone had not complied with the regulation.

In addition to paying the regulator the fine, Vodafone must resolve any issues that have been raised by customers in respect of billed amounts for data roaming between March 1, 2010 and 22 February, 2012, paying financial compensation where appropriate.

The operator must also apply the default spend cap to its customers on data roaming plans who have not opted out, by 22 February, 2012.

New customers on data roaming plans will have the default spend cap applied to their accounts,  and the operator must also pay ComReg its legal costs in relation to the High Court proceedings.

Vodafone’s director of strategy, Paul Ryan, said: “Vodafone has settled with the regulator in the interest of achieving clarity for our customers. However, the company is disappointed with the regulator’s approach on this issue.”