The telephone information companies 118 revolt against the reform that the Government is preparing to establish new conditions in the provision of services and warn the Ministry of Economic Affairs, responsible for the project, that if it carries out the changes proposed in the current text it will achieve the opposite effect to the one it pursues and not only will the claims skyrocket, but it will lead the sector to a situation of bankruptcy risk.
As EL MUNDO advanced, the department headed by Nadia Calviño is preparing an order to tighten the regulation of these services after having detected a notable increase in claims from users who report fraud by the operating companies. And the affected companies have already transferred to the Ministry their allegations to the project, which was in public hearing until April 15.
The new rule proposes eliminating the cap on the price per minute (currently set at 2.5 euros) to favor competition; limit the maximum duration of the call to 2 minutes, compared to the 10 minutes currently allowed, establish the requirement of prior express request from the end user for access to any of these 118 numbers, as well as direct dialing of the number on the terminal digit by digit, eliminate the possibility that service providers can divert calls and oblige them to present the subscriber with a detailed invoice, guaranteeing that the user cannot be suspended from the communications service due to non-payment of the part corresponding to the query.
Analyzed the project, the service providers have made their allegations. And, according to reports from the affected companies, they start with a warning: if the service is hindered, the user will be the victim. Beginning with the requirement of prior express request from the end user for access to any of these 118 numbers, which supposes “a very clear obstacle to the service limiting the rights of the consumer in their freedom to call the numbers they want”. On the other hand, they say, it increases the “complexity” by eliminating the possibility of speed dialing, forcing you to memorize and type the number, “which clearly supposes an involution.”
They also denounce that limiting the maximum duration of the call to two minutes denotes a “great ignorance” of the operation of the service, since, in most cases, calls require more time, and with this cut, “the opposite effect will be caused “, that is, that” the claims are increased even more by having to call again. This, together with the suppression of the call progress and the obligation to take note of the number, “will make it impossible to carry out the consultation in a single call”, insist from the affected companies.
The service providers agree, however, with some of the sections of the project that improve consumer protection, such as the one related to the breakdown of the invoice or the impossibility of suspending the communications service due to non-payment of the corresponding part. to the query. However, they are “totally against” the “restrictive measures that pose obstacles without any benefit” and a “more than likely bankruptcy of the service.”
“Consulting operators, service providers and experts in the sector, they all agree that the application of authorization in the call would mean a brutal drop in traffic to the point of making the service disappear, since there are precedents. There is no reason to think that in this case the behavior of the user would change”, insist from the affected companies.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project