PRESS RELEASE

PREMIUM TELEPHONE SERVICES, A FINE OF €1.733 MILLION TO FOUR OPERATORS: TELECOM, WIND, VODAFONE AND H3G

A total fine of €1.733 million has been imposed by the Italian Antitrust Authority on four operators in the field of telephone services: Telecom (€0.583million), Wind (€0.350million), Vodafone (€0.400million) and H3G (€0.400million). The companies failed to observe the measures of 13 January 2015 and continued with their practice not to obtain a fully informed consent by consumers for the purchase of premium services through navigation on the internet with mobile phones.

The Italian Antitrust Authority established that, even after these deliberations, the four operators failed to implement a system that would be suitable to ensure a fully informed purchase of the service. To this end, it was considered insufficient to click the activation button only once.

According to the Antitrust Authority, in fact, the companies could and should have implemented measures that would be appropriate to address the problem of unwanted activations by means of a single click to purchase the service. Even more so, this is because this concerns a market that requires a high level of protection to consumers.

In the light of these considerations, the Authority held that non-compliance is still ongoing by three of the four operators: Telecom, Wind and Vodafone. At the same time H3G, in the view of the Antitrust Authority, proceeded as from 1 October 2015 to implement a model for purchase based on the consumer’s consent and on a dual type, inside the landing page placed under the direct control of the operator, suitable to prevent adequately the problem of unsolicited activation of premium services.

Rome, 16 October 2015