Mobile phone sellers to seek ruling on handset availability

A group of leading mobile phone sellers is to seek a ruling from the Office of Fair Competition over Vodafone's threat not to supply them with its phones over the Christmas period unless they agree to restrictions on visits by Go Mobile representatives.

The shop owners said that, for the past months, Go Mobile has been sending customer care representatives to their shops on specific afternoons.

Go Mobile entered into contracts with these sellers to send representatives on two afternoons for a whole year, and the shops had the option to receive Go Mobile reps more frequently during the Christmas period.

"When Go Mobile informed us they would step up the service at Christmas time, we welcomed it. Go Mobile offered to send their representatives on alternate days and we made it clear we wanted to leave space for Vodafone assistants, as Vodafone had offered this kind of service last year.

"But out of the blue, Vodafone told us that unless we remove Go Mobile's promoters, they would not supply us with their phones," the dealers said.

"We resisted this and told them they were welcome to send theirs and, after a lot of argument, they agreed to give us their mobiles to sell only if Go representatives are not present for more than two afternoons a week. We find this unacceptable.

"They can't dictate to us what we do in our shops. We told them plainly that if they want to send their representatives, they were free to do so and that Go Mobile had left space for them to operate. We want to seek a ruling about this from the Office of Fair Competition. This is not the way to compete."

Another shop owner said he had ordered his mobile phones from Vodafone three months ago but the company had refused to give him the phones to sell unless he assured them that Go Mobile representatives would not be in his shop more than two afternoons a week.

"I am not prepared to agree to this and do otherwise. So I will be seeking advice from my lawyer and suing them for loss of earnings if they keep refusing to give me phones," the dealer said.

A cold war has been going on between Vodafone and Go Mobile since the latter took nearly half the mobile phone market share since it was set up.

Recently Go Mobile reported Vodafone to the regulatory body, the Malta Communications Authority, about misleading advertising, arguing that Vodafone's SMS rate was more expensive. Vodafone filed a similar complaint against Go Mobile.

Contacted for a reaction, a Vodafone spokesman said Vodafone had a limited number of Vodafone branded phones with customised software.

"This year we have chosen a number of dealers to promote and sell them with the same standard of service that we sell them from our outlets ourselves. This is how Vodafone does business in other countries too."

Asked whether there were any discussions with phone sellers about sending their representatives in the shops, the spokesman said discussions were taking place and the company had a number of options but at one stage it decided "which way we have to go. It's purely a commercial decision," the spokesman said.