EETT imposes penalties on mobile telephony operators for arbitrary rejections of portability requests
March 13, 2015
Following a thorough investigation of consumer complaints on arbitrary rejections of
portability requests as well as ex officio inspections, for the period 2011-2013, the EETT Plenary
unanimously imposed fines totaling 5,486,000 euro on the three mobile operators, namely 1,223,000
euro on COSMOTE, 2,593,000 euro on VODAFONE and 1,670,000 euro on WIND respectively.
In particular, it was found that number portability requests were handled in violation of the
legislation, within 2011, 2012 and 2013, and were accordingly judged by EETT in their entirety.
Fines were allocated by taking into account the extent of the infringement by each company,
the total number of affected subscribers, the economic damage caused to consumers, the increased
revenues of the companies that emerged from the infringements and the need to prevent such unfair
practices in the future.
It is noted that number portability is a key consumer facilitator and promotes effective
competition in the electronic communications markets. In this context, the abnormal function of the
Greek market poses risks of both insufficient consumer protection and distortion of competition.
EETT has, since November 2014, imposed new regulations that accelerate and improve the process for
portability.
EETT will continue to monitor and control the Greek telecommunications market, in strong
defense of consumer rights and transparency.