The AGCOM has published four resolutions with the fines imposed on telephone operators for billing at 28 days
The story of the bills at 28 days is enriched by a further chapter: the AGCOM (Authority for Communications Guarantees) has published on its website four new resolutions that define the fines against telephone operators who had changed the billing system. The resolution of AGCOM provides that Tim, Vodafone, Wind Tre and Fastweb must pay a fine of 580 thousand euros, for a total of 2 million and 320 thousand euros.
The decision of the Communications Guarantor comes following the ruling of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court in November 2018 that had annulled the previous decision that provided for a fine of 1.16 million euros for each telephone operator. The judges of the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio had found the penalty imposed by AGCOM to be unfair and had recommended that the amount of the fine be redetermined. If there will not be a new appeal by the telephone operators, the deliberations of the Guarantor should put an end to the issue of 28 days billing.
In addition, in these days Tim, Vodafone, Fastweb and Wind Tre are presenting to their customers a reversal plan to compensate them for the 28 days bills. These are offers that present free services or the possibility to use discounts for the purchase of items on e-commerce sites.
28-day billing, fines arrive for telephone operators
With resolutions 219, 220, 221 and 222/19/CONS, AGCOM has defined the new financial penalties that telephone operators must pay for having introduced and used 28-day billing for several months, which forced users to pay almost an extra bill a year without having any extra service. Tim, Vodafone, Wind Tre and Fastweb will have to pay a fine of 580.000 each to finally close the issue.
The decision of the Guarantor for communication comes after the cancellation by the TAR of Lazio of the first fine imposed on telephone operators, judged unfair by the administrative judges (amounted to 1.16 million euros). AGCOM has recalculated the fine, making companies pay half of what was initially established. Now we will have to see if the telephone operators will want to appeal again to the TAR of Lazio to annul the deliberations of the Guarantor of communication.