Time up for time windows

Last June, Go Mobile followed Vodafone in putting an end to the much loathed mobile phone "time-window". In turn, both followed the lead of the third operator, Melita, which had already set the example at its launch earlier this year.

As mobile phone users know only too well, "time windows" entail a practice whereby the credit for call time purchased through top-up cards is lost in favour of the telephone company unless the credit is used within a certain time or unless it is topped up again through the purchase of a new card.

This practice has always been questionable as it entails an artificial expiry date, upon which the telephone company "confiscates" the balance of the unused money in your card for no plausible reason whatsoever.

Last September I brought this issue directly to the attention of the European Commission through a parliamentary question that I tabled in the European Parliament.

In reply to my question, the Commission stated that, as such, this matter is not addressed in EU telecommunications law and that therefore it was a contractual matter between the operator and the subscriber. However, it added that national telecoms regulators - in our case, the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) - are required to promote users' interests by ensuring that updated and transparent information on prices and tariffs as well as on conditions of use is made available. The Commission also stated that it is currently studying the issue of transparency in tariffs and conditions as part of a telecoms review which is intended to strengthen consumer protection.

More importantly, the Commission stated that contractual conditions - including those in your mobile phone contract - are subject to EU law which protects consumers from unfair commercial practices and from misleading advertising.

EU consumer legislation states that failure to provide clear, adequate and complete information on prices and on important elements of the services - such as the time window - may be considered as an unfair practice. Equally, it states that contractual conditions which are heavily biased against consumers and in favour of the telecoms company can also be deemed illegal.

However, the Commission pointed out that it is for the national authorities and/or national courts to determine whether specific practices in Malta constitute unfair (and therefore illegal) practices. Indeed, in other countries, such as Germany, the national courts have already ruled that time windows are illegal.

I had publicised the Commission's reply in an article I wrote in this column last January.

In view of this reply, I raised this issue with both the MCA and the Consumer Affairs Division in Malta. Whereas both authorities took the time to meet me to hear me out, I have to say that I am disappointed that, despite several reminders, the Consumer Affairs Division left my request for a formal ruling unanswered for several months.

Be that as it may, awareness on time windows was raised and the pressure of consumer rights weighed in on mobile phone operators. This was also thanks, no doubt, to my fellow candidate, Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas, who earlier this year also pursued this issue very rigorously.

Progress was registered when Melita Mobile saw a competitive advantage in eliminating time widows and announced that it would not have them when it launched its services earlier this year. From this point onwards, it was just a matter of time until the forces of competition gave rise to the required domino effect. Vodafone did away with its time windows and Go Mobile soon followed suit.

I consider the removal of time windows as an important victory for Maltese consumers. These results were obtained thanks to a combination of a growing pro-consumer environment with a readiness on the part of the operators concerned to opt for consumer friendly measures rather than resist the inevitable.

There's a happy ending and let us hope that more issues will be resolved in this manner.

My parliamentary question can be viewed from the following link: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+WQ+E-2008-5323+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN .

Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.