Melita will be appealing a Malta Communications Authority administrative fine of €10,000 on Melita.

The MCA said this morning that in five instances reported to the MCA, Melita was found to have acted in breach of its obligations at law when it failed to action requests from a number of its subscribers to terminate their services, in line with its requirements.

This decision follows a sanction previously imposed by the MCA on Melita in July, following one complaint received on the matter.  Regrettably, despite such action, the MCA continued to receive similar complaints from other Melita subscribers.

The complaints received indicated that, notwithstanding the fact that these subscribers had informed Melita 30 days in advance of their intention to terminate their service/s, they either:

  1. did not have the service/s duly terminated following the expiry of the advance notice period; and/or
  2. continued to receive invoices charging them for services beyond the 30 day advance notice period.

In these cases, it was only after the MCA brought these complaints to Melita’s attention, that the company took the necessary action to rectify matters and address the requests made by adjusting the bills of the subscribers, where applicable.

Consequently, the MCA imposed the fine and warned Melita that it would be closely monitoring the situation to ensure that the applicable procedures were being adhered to.

The MCA said members of the public encountering difficulties while terminating any services they were subscribed to could contact the authority on 2133 6840, email customercare@mca.org.mt

Melita's reaction

In a reaction this afternoon, Melita said it will be filing an appeal against the decision.

"Prior to the MCA’s announcement, the company had already taken steps to address administration errors pertaining to specific customers who had complained to the company and to the MCA.

"Melita contends that an administrative fine is completely unnecessary and that such punitive measures should not be considered as a revenue generation channel."

It said the MCA was reaching its conclusions on the basis of an incorrect interpretation of existing regulations and ignoring the provisions of the contractual terms and conditions, which had been in force and unchanged since 2012, and which were in line with provisions issued by the MCA itself in July.

"It is also pertinent to note that the complaints mentioned in the MCA’s unfair decision arose at a time when Melita was implementing a substantial investment to launch a new IT system.

"As Melita has already explained several times through public statements, letters to the dditor in newspaper and through a letter by the company’s CEO sent to all Melita customers in November, the implementation of the new IT system has not gone according to plan and the company is working 24/7 with its software contractors – a global international provider - to address the shortcomings in the shortest possible timeframes.

"Melita had ensured that it keeps its customers and the MCA informed of these developments at all times."

 Melita's letter to customers can be read in the pdf link below.

The company said that in view of the inconvenience caused, it had also informed its customers that it was offering a number of free services until next September.

It said that all its procedures and internal control mechanisms were according to law and identical to other operators in the industry.

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