Beating for Vodafone and WindTre
Bad news for Vodafone and WindTre. The two telephony giants have received a very hefty fine from AGCOM on charges of having imposed fixed subscription costs on SIM cards with pay-per-use plans on their users.The amount of the fine exceeds 1 million EUR . Specifically, Vodafone will have to pay a fine of 522 thousand euros, while WindTre one of 696 thousand euros.
In the period between September 2019 and January 2020, Vodafone had charged the accounts of some users who had received SIM cards free from the operator. The cost of the charge, which amounted to 5 euros per month, was marked as an "internet subscription", without users having ever made use of it.
AGCOM therefore considered it appropriate to intervene in the matter, considering the inclusion of new costs such as the realization of a contract from scratch and not a unilateral modification, consequently fining Vodafone.
It is not the first time that there has been animosity between the two parties. AGCOM, in fact, had sanctioned the operator in 2018 with a fine of 580 thousand euros. The accusation? Lack of disclosure transparency.
WindTre, on the other hand, ended up in AGCOM's crosshairs for forcing users to switch to a new offer that included a cost of 4 euros per month with traffic included. A substantial change with respect to the pay-as-you-go plan subscribed by users, who for this very reason were not required to pay a fixed monthly fee.
The company justified itself by making an excuse that it did not obtain from this practice any form of remuneration because the mobile network was not used by users. WindTre, therefore, has changed the plan only to the latter, not affecting those who used the SIM with a minimum monthly traffic.
AGCOM, in any case, did not want to compromise and considered the event to be an unjustifiable change of plan, thus establishing the amount of the fine to be paid.
You are looking for a light, performing and long-lived smartphone? Then the Huawei P Smart 2021 model will be for you. You can find it, at an affordable price, here.