Press Releases

Telephony, internet or television contracts – read what you are signing

20.08.2015

The Romanian National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) imposed additional obligations on the electronic communications (telephony, internet, television) providers, regarding the users’ information on the Framework-agreement. This agreement must be posted on the providers’ websites, with a direct link from the homepage, under a suggestive name. Moreover, upon the users’ request, the providers must make available a copy of the document that may be taken home, for study. ANCOM advises the users to carefully read the provisions of the Framework-agreement and the terms of the offer they are interested in, so they could be properly informed on the desired service provision conditions before going to the operators’ shop to conclude a contract.  
The Framework-agreement contains the general provisions applicable in the user - service provider relationship, irrespective of the specific offer chosen by a user.
This agreement may consist of several documents, such as the main contract clauses, the general terms for service provision, specific conditions for each electronic communications service offered, annexes or leaflets detailing service or equipment tariffs.
Be they interested in the telephony, internet or television service, ANCOM advises the users to request all the documents that are part of the contract and read them thoroughly.
Furthermore, before signing a telephony, internet or television contract, the users should pay attention to the following categories of information:
ü minimum contract duration and fees applicable in case of early contract termination;
ü usage order of the included minutes/ SMS/ MMS/ video calls;
ü validity period of the extra-options or bonuses granted;
ü additional services that may be activated by default, along with the telephone service (e.g. mobile internet, roaming) and the applicable tariffs;
ü fees applicable for the additional services (e.g. installation fee, itemised bill fee, equipment lease fee);
ü restrictions when using certain services/applications, as the case may be;
ü trouble notification procedure and repair term;
ü service suspension conditions;
ü penalties you are entitled to if the provider breaches the contract.
Where Framework-agreements are not to be found on the websites of telephony, internet or television providers, the users can complain to ANCOM – click here for more details.
ANCOM’s Decision no. 158/2015 on the obligations to inform the end-users entered into force on 27 June 2015, establishing the information categories that electronic communications operators must provide the users and extending the information obligations to internet and TV retransmission providers, besides the telephony providers, who had had these obligations ever since 2009.
In Romania, there are almost 23 million mobile SIM cards in use and more than 16 million broadband internet connections, whereas 7 million households have access to paid TV retransmission services, according to the latest statistical data published by ANCOM (Infographics here).

 

Further infromation on telephony, internet and television contracts are available on the Authority’s website, here. 
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