Batelco makes refund for Internet disruption

Batelco has announced a refund for its internet service customers because of the disruption to services earlier this month.

All Batelco internet customers will be credited with half of their normal monthly fee, meaning effectively that bills for this month will be halved.

Damage to four undersea cables at various points around the region caused service outages in many countries at the start of February.

Batelco chief executive Peter Kaliaropoulos pointed out that while Batelco is not obliged to make any refunds, the company felt this was the right thing to do for its customers.

"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," he said.

"We understand that, whilst 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 added.

UAE telecoms operators Etisalat and du were both contacted to see if they would also be making refunds, but failed to respond at the time of writing.