Mobile Operator EE to Advance Commission Payments to Dealers
Mobile network and internet services operator Everything Everywhere, which now trades as EE, said that it will pay all its T-Mobile and Orange dealers three months of commissions in advance to cover delayed or incorrect payments made since the beginning of the year.
EE, which is a 50:50 joint venture formed in 2010 when Deutsche Telekom and France Télécom merged their respective T-Mobile and Orange businesses in the UK, has attempted to tackle a longstanding software problem that has interrupted dealer payments. The advanced payments will be based on the average value of dealers’ commission claims in January and February this year. The group has also paid in full all delayed or incorrect dealer commissions for the period October 2012 to January 2013.
Delays to dealer payments were triggered last October, when EE integrated the Orange and T-Mobile billing platforms and the new platform failed to register hundreds of new contract and upgrade sales due to a software problem. Dealers either received incorrect commissions or no payments at all, with some laying off staff and others forced to borrow to keep their businesses solvent.
A statement issued by the group read: “EE has in the last few days made full payment to all partners of commission queries dating from October 2012 to January 2013. On top of that, we have paid partners in advance for the next three months to ensure their cash flow is protected while we resolve the technical issues we have had.”