Phone companies fined for unsolicited calls and texts

Four telephone companies were hit with monetary penalties yesterday for making unsolicited marketing calls and sending spam emails and text messages to customers.

One upset woman, who had an ex-directory telephone number because she had previously received death threats, was contacted by a sales agent on behalf of Eircom and he later turned up at her house, without showing ID, Dublin District Court heard yesterday.

The case was brought after customers complained to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, which brought charges against Eircom, Meteor, Vodafone, and O2 for breaking communications regulations.