By Ken Foxe

Copyright independent

ComReg, the communications regulator, rolled out its new SMS alert system over summer, to combat the increasing volume of bogus messages being received by mobile customers in Ireland.

However, instead of fixing things, the new system created new problems of its own — with companies finding it hard to get themselves registered.

Today’s News in 90 Seconds – September 21st

Now documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show the extent of the chaos caused by the regulators’ rollout.

We are a frontline service with no means of communication with patients

In some cases, genuine texts from GPs and medical facilities were flagged as “likely scams”, with some clinics warning of financial losses. They say compensation should be available.

ComReg says that many of the issues have since been resolved, but the records detail how the regulator was bombarded with complaints after the system launched.

One medical centre said there seemed to have been “monumental errors” in the alert system, and their texts sent to clients were marked “suspicious”.

“We are a frontline service which now has no means of communication with over [number redacted] patients that we have a duty of care to.”

Their furious email said ComReg had done little to inform the public about the ongoing issues.

The message added: “We have opted to suspend all SMS communication with our patients. There will be a substantial cost to this that I hope we will be compensated for.”

They were one of multiple medical services who had the same problem, according to the records that were released by ComReg.

One clinic wrote: “It is affecting our business, and I would like to solve it as soon as possible.”

​Another emailed to say: “It would however appear that you cannot meet your own deadlines, and I am aware that we are not the only medical practice affected by this.”

One GP practice said they were going to have to deal with patients missing doctor visits, as nobody would trust a text labelled “spam”.

In one exchange, a person said they wanted to opt out of the system because it didn’t work, adding that they could judge for themselves whether a text was a scam or not.

In a series of messages, the member of the public said those involved should be “immediately fired” and wrote “you are f**king kidding me”.

A message back from ComReg didn’t solve the problem, but did say: “Please refrain from using bad language when contacting us.”

One owner of a small business said that not only were their text messages showing up as spam, so too were communications from PayPal.

“Something has gone wrong at your end,” they said.

Another firm wrote of repeated unsuccessful attempts to log in.

“This is horrifically poor communication on your part,” said a message. “This is affecting my business — and I will assume compensation will be forthcoming for my loss of revenue.”

Others wrote of extreme difficulty in the verification process on the ComReg website and futile efforts to fill in their details. They said: “I have tried repeatedly to register with this service.”

A message back to them from ComReg said they had identified an issue where addresses were not matching correctly with company information. ​

Asked about the records, a spokesman for ComReg said that SMS scams erode trust in texts, with harm to consumers and businesses estimated to cost around €115m each year.

He said: “In June 2025, ComReg introduced an SMS Sender ID Registry… From July 2025, unregistered SMS Sender IDs were modified to ‘Likely Scam’.

“To date, 17,064 Sender IDs have been registered by over 12,704 organisations.”

The spokesman said the majority of industry parties had now resolved their technical problems, but admitted there was a small number of participating aggregators who still had outstanding issues.

He added: “Consequently, ComReg has deferred the commencement of the blocking phase of scam SMS messages until it can be satisfied that these matters are addressed.”