Eir plans to tackle poor customer service
The chief executive of Eir said the telecoms firm will have to tackle a poor reputation for customer service, as it reported earnings had risen 13% in the six months to the end of December.
Carolan Lennon said customers had faced delays as the firm brought customer service back in-house, which included hiring 750 new staff in Cork, Limerick, and Sligo.
"One of my key priorities is tackling our reputation for poor customer service.
"During this time of change, customers have experienced longer wait times than usual or acceptable, and we are doing everything we can to minimise the disruption, including significantly expanding our Web Chat services and working hard to reduce our wait times to the level which Eir customers expect," Ms Lennon said.
The firm posted a 13% increase in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation, or Ebitda, to €279m in the six months to the end of December from a year earlier.
Revenue of €634m was down 1%, while operating costs of €213m fell 13%, it said.
Ms Lennon said that while Eir had withdrawn from the national broadband plan (NBP) tender process, it was on hand to assist the winning bidder.
"Eir withdrew from the NBP tender process in early 2018 but remains committed to supporting the remaining bidder in making Eir’s infrastructure ready and available for the delivery of the NBP.
"We are allocating significant resources in order to provide this support and will continue to do so," Ms Lennon said.
The firm said broadband customers had increased 3% to 936,000.
