News

1 February 2023

Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva sent a letter to acting Prime Minister Galab Donev and acting Minister of Economy and Industry Nikola Stoyanov, in which, based on numerous complaints, she demanded the State to protect the rights of users of mobile services.

It should be noted that last week the Ombudsman asked the Chairman of the Commission for Consumer Protection to carry out a competence check on whether the two mobile operators who said they would index their prices in 2023 – Yettel Bulgaria EAD by 15.3% and Vivacom Bulgaria by up to BGN 2 per service – engage in unfair commercial practices in the meaning of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).

In the meantime, it became clear that the third operator A1 had also announced a price increase of its services from 1 March and its monthly tariffs ranging from BGN 7 to BGN 25 will increase by 15.3%. 

A week ago, in a letter to mobile operators, Prof. Kovacheva urged them to reconsider the decision on the increase, even though they had formal legal grounds to do so.

The reason for yet another letter from the Ombudsman is the upcoming indexation of the prices of mobile operators from February this year and the public consultation which ended on 23 January concerning the draft Council of Ministers’ Decree on amendments and additions to the Tariff for the fees collected by the Communications Regulation Commission under the Electronic Communications Act.

“Proposed is a reduction in the Tariff fees by over 40% on average, some of the reasons for this being: investment promotion; stimulating innovation; providing conditions for the introduction of a new generation of mobile networks (5G), etc. For the same reasons, mobile operators are about to index the prices of their services, for example, Yettel by 15.3%,” wrote Prof. Kovacheva.

She drew attention to the fact that if a decision of the Council of Ministers to amend and supplement the Tariff was adopted, mobile operators would receive new support from the state through a reduction of the fees. However, the Ombudsman emphasized that throughout 2022 the telecoms received state aid in the form of compensation for electricity prices and they will continue receiving such aid during the current year.

“In practice, the State provides financial support to these powerful companies to meet their obligations. For the second consecutive year, Yettel and Vivacom announced that they would index their prices. At this stage, even at the meeting of the Committee on Economic Policy and Innovation on 26 January 2023 in the National Assembly, they did not present specific economic data and a justification for the need to increase the prices of mobile services”, pointed out the national public defender.

Diana Kovacheva emphasized that the customers of these mobile operators would be forced to pay the increased prices without the right to renegotiate the terms of their contracts so as to lower their tariffs, as well as without the possibility to terminate their contracts without penalty.

“I consider this as absolutely unfair, citizens' rights are not sufficiently protected, there is no equality between the contracting parties – the customers of mobile operators cannot influence the content of the contracts. Under Article 3 (2) of Council Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms of consumer contracts:  “A term shall always be regarded as not individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term, particularly in the context of a pre-formulated standard contract”, wrote the Ombudsman.

Prof. Kovacheva also informed that she had already requested the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications, as well as the Chairman of the Communications Regulation Commission to given an opinion on the need to change the fees under the Tariff of mobile operators against the background of the new upcoming increase in mobile services.

“In times of crises and high inflation, it is necessary to provide support and protection to Bulgarian citizens, by taking specific, urgent measures to prevent an increase of the prices of mobile services. I believe that when the State gives financial compensation to businesses, there should be requirements for them to implement a corresponding social and economic policy”, Diana Kovacheva made her point.