Business | Telecoms
Bahrain's Batelco to reimburse its customers for internet disruption
Bahrain's leading telecom operator Batelco on Thursday said it will credit its customers' internet accounts with 50 per cent of their monthly rental broadband charge due to the recent undersea cable damage.
- Staff Report
- Published: 00:30 February 15, 2008
Dubai: Bahrain's leading telecom operator Batelco on Thursday said it will credit its customers' internet accounts with 50 per cent of their monthly rental broadband charge due to the recent undersea cable damage.
The disruption caused inconvenience for internet users from Egypt, across the Middle East to India, and its customers in Bahrain.
For example a customer on a 10 Bahraini dinar per month package will receive five dinars credit.
"The unprecedented series of events which severely impacted internet services across many countries in the region, not just in Bahrain, was completely out of Batelco's control," a company statement said.
While Batelco is not obliged contractually to offer any reimbursement for such unforeseen incidents, the company believes that such an occurrence, where three international cables were almost simultaneously damaged, requires a unique response.
"Even though no Batelco customer lost their internet access throughout this period, we are aware that they experienced slow downloads due to congestion. Our engineers started to re-route traffic within minutes of the cable cuts and our investments in network diversity served us well to restore significant connectivity on remaining operational cables and satellites," said Batelco chief executive Peter Kaliaropoulos.
"We understand that, while no fault of Batelco, our customers were severely inconvenienced. Consistent with our brand values and customer care principles, we are offering this once off payment recognising the unique circumstances," he stated.
The cable cuts lasted 12 days. Within a few days 65 per cent of capacity was restored for Batelco customers.
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