Spain’s cell phone users on strike
Protest against simultaneous price increase of the offerers, who are to more than destroy a victory of the consumers against the lucrative rounding up
The three major mobile operators in spain simultaneously raised prices today to compensate for profit shortfalls. Because now the usual lucrative rounding up is forbidden. So today the prices for the call setup were raised by 25%. It is astonishing how the government stands by while the three major operators jointly undermine a new law enacted under prere from consumers.
"The called cell phone is currently unreachable." this is the message that the three rough mobile operators in spain have been telling callers today more than ever before. The reason is a cell phone strike called by consumer groups, unions and associations of netizens. "Apaga" (switch off), says the official website of the boycotters, who have also inspired this second day of strikes.
Many people do not have their cell phones turned on, others use them only in urgent cases. The protest is directed against the rough mobile phone providers movistar, vodafone and orange, which at the same time have raised the fees. The call setup charge, which does not exist in germany and many other european countries, was raised today by 25% from 12 to 15 cents. The prices for the calls increase additionally between 12-17 percent, depending on the provider and the contract.
The reason for this is that the mobile operators want to neutralize the loss of profits that the "law to improve consumer protection", that on 21. The bill, which was passed by parliament on december. The law has made the lucrative rounding up of calls a thing of the past as of 1 january 2009. March forbidden. In addition to the call setup fee, mobile operators have also made a lot of money from rounding up calls. Telefonica moviles, the largest operator with 21 million customers, used to charge every 30 seconds. Orange charged by the second, but only after the first minute, which was always rounded up to the second.
According to the new law, all conversations must now be accounted for to the second, from the first second onwards. Since the companies are reluctant to forego revenue, they raised their fees in good faith. This was a concerted action that violated antitrust law, consumer protection groups complained. According to their estimations the loss will be more than compensated. Ausbanc has calculated that the increase will now put a total of 770 million euros more into the coffers of the companies.
The socialist government is watching its law being undermined in such an audacious way. The minister of industry, joan clos, said last week that it was not the government’s job to fight it. In the face of societal prere, however, clos even joined the strike today. He wants to use the cell phone as little as possible and now await reports from the regulatory authority. The second day of strikes was much more heavily followed than the first on 6. February. The telephone companies claim that the first strike was practically undetectable, so they are calm about the new protest.
But the telephone companies have no need to neutralize these robberies. The former state monopolist telefonica has increased its profits by more than 40% year-on-year to 6.2 billion euros. The company announced this on the very day it is being attacked by its customers. The company has also used its quasi-monopoly position, with the connivance of the government, for years to fleece internet users (spain continues to lose ground in internet usage).
