PRESS RELEASE

PROCEEDINGS OPENED AGAINST VODAFONE, WIND, TIM AND H3G FOR “PREMIUM” SERVICES ON MOBILE TELEPHONES

The Antitrust has launched four proceedings for non-compliance against Vodafone, Wind, Tim and H3G for providing users of mobile telephones with services against payment (so-called premium services) that were not requested or that were requested unknowingly, with a charge of the relative amounts being made on consumers’ credit. In previous proceedings that took place on 13 January 2015, the four companies were sanctioned for having adopted the business practice by means of “misleading information omissions and aggressive behaviour”. As a result several consumers, as stated in resolutions published in the weekly bulletin of the Antitrust Authority, “have reported the reoccurrence of the commercial practice” that is the subject of the proceedings. At the end of the investigation which must be concluded within 120 days from the date of the communication, the Antitrust Authority will decide on the possible imposition of fines in accordance with Article 27, paragraph 12, of the Consumer Code.

Rome, 30 June 2015