Telecom to fork out $8.5m for technical glitch

Telecom will shortly be coughing up $8.5m to satiate disaffected customers following technical issues with its Go Large plan.

In an ASX-statement, the company said it would look to recredit some 60,000 customers $7.5m to $8.5m after the Go Large plans ceased to operate as designed from 8 December.

“Following customer feedback, our own review has shown that the process involved in managing Go Large Internet traffic since early December is now what was originally intended or communicated to customers,” GM consumer marketing Kevin Bowler said.

Telecom said the Go Large product, which offers no monthly data cap, was promoted as having traffic management applied to certain applications, but since December the traffic management process had affected all forms of activity.

“Clearly it is not an ideal situation and there we are crediting Go Large customers for plan changes incurred during this period,” Bowler said.

According to the company, re-credits will very dependent on how long the customer has been on the Go Large plan, but a customer as of 8 December could expect a payment of between $130 and $160.

The company said it had ceased taking on new subscribers for the Go Large plan until it had completed further reviews into the service.

“In this instance with the Go Large plan our internal technical review showed we had made an error wand we believe that we are doing the right thing by crediting customers,” bowler said.