BackThe Ombudsman, Soledad Becerril, has sent a study "Telecommunications: citizens’ needs and demands", to the Spanish Parliament which aims to improve the Government's monitoring of the operators' behaviour and transparency in providing the service, pricing, customer service, advertising and contracts.
The study contains recommendations made after the Law 9/2014 on Telecommunications was passed on 9 May, and demands that the Government ensure that telecom operators provide clear and sufficient information to their customers when billing them.
To make it easier to cancel a service, the study proposes that a request for cancellation should take effect immediately. It also recommends that the penalty for breaching a commitment to a minimum term should be charged on a pro rata basis.
In the Ombudsman's opinion, "the information consumers receive when signing a commitment with an operator must be truthful. The operators must clearly explain the services they provide and the costs, and must not hinder the process of cancelling contracts."
The study recommends that the civil service and other public bodies extend the provision of freephone helplines, in order to make it easier to contact these administrative bodies.
Another of the study's recommendations is that the limits set for receiving the social subsidy (i.e. a low cost service) should automatically adapt to changes in the pensions on which this entitlement is based. The aim is to ensure that pensioners on low incomes do not have to cancel a service as basic as a phone line as a result of a very small change in their pensions.
In the field of data protection, the study proposes that the operators inform users during advertising calls of their right to know which source provided their personal data, and that operators respect the users’ right to reject any further such calls.
Additionally, it proposes that the operators' websites should include a section within which users can exercise control over their own personal data.
The recommendations have been sent to: the Office of the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and the Information Society (SETSI); the autonomous regions' consumer bodies; the Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Security and Nutrition; the Office of the Secretary of State for Public Authorities; the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC); and the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD).
Most of the complaints received by the Ombudsman's Office about telecommunications are related to billing and difficulties in cancelling contracted services, the provision of universal service and the need to expand broadband Internet access.
Source: Defensor del Pueblo, SPAIN
