From a prominent eircom advertisement on page 5 of the Money&Markets supplement in today's Sunday Business Post, Chairman Tony proclaims:

"Staying close to customers and responding to their needs will be the best guarantee to deliver solid returns

[...] the challenge for eircom going forward is to recognise that the customer is always right. I have commended it to management and I commend it to shareholders as a paradigm of the way to continue to build value in this great national enterprise"

Unfortunate, then, that on page 2 of the main section of the SBP reporter Pat Leahy writes in a piece entitled "Eircom to cut operator times on 999 calls":

"Eircom has ordered emergency 999 operators to spend less time on each call in an effort to cut costs.

Previously, 999 operators stayed on the line after the emergency call had been forwarded to fire, ambulance or gardai as they could often correct details such as the location of the call.

However, under new work practices, the operators have been ordered to end the call once they have taken some details and forwarded the call.

One staff member commented: “Last week I could be sacked for not staying on the line because it was considered necessary. Now I can be sacked if I do stay on the line.”

Internal company documents assert that the operators' involvement in the calls “is not as critical as used to be . . . the completion of call ticket information should not unduly delay the release of a call or the return to receiving the next call from the queue'‘.

Staff said the moves were part of a constant squeeze to secure more productivity and put pressure on the remaining civil servants employed by Eircom. “People are being asked: ‘Where have you been?’ when they return from toilet breaks,” said one staff member."

Oops.

Further from the same piece of eircom advertising fluff in this Sunday's SBP:

"On regulation

"It remains beyond comprehension why a cable into a house is unregulated, a satellite service is unregulated but a copper wire is regulated to within an inch of its life."

"It is ironic that the main barrier to investment is the risk created not by the market but by the regulator. If the regulator is unable to do its best to ensure that there is an adequate incentive for investors, then they should at least practice forbearance in the face of unpredictable markets for new technologies""

A monopoly arguing against regulation? How shocking.