‘Only Changes Are In How Prices Are Reflected In Bills’, GO Say Following Investigation Claims
GO, one of three Maltese telecommunications companies investigated by the Competition Office stated that their recent tariff changes stem from how prices are reflected in bills.
The changes they referred to, recently flagged by MEP Alex Agius Saliba, were additional monthly tariffs of between €1 to €2 for people who don’t pay via direct debit.
“The change in regulation stems from changes to the PSD2, an EU Directive implemented by the Central Bank of Malta.”
“Put simply, this is a change from a charging to a discounting mechanism, which is in conformity with the PSD2.”
“The Central Bank mandated all electronic communications service providers to reflect these mechanisms by 1st July 2022. So essentially, this change means that we had to revisit the way we bill our customers and how charges are represented in the bill.”
In their statement, GO maintained that the change will only affect customers who were already subscribed to packages that mandated a direct debit method of payment. All other customers will not be affected by the ‘legislative change’ because an equivalent discount is being given, per service.
“This means that GO customers are not experiencing any bill increase. GO is the only operator offering discounts equivalent to its previous DDM charges so customers, in general, remain unaffected.”
“What has changed, is how these prices are represented in the bills.”
The company maintained that €1 previously charged will now simply be represented as part of the basic tariff fee, which means that when one decides to switch to direct debit – in place of direct or online payment – they will start receiving a €1 discount per service.
Agius Saliba said that GO, alongside Epic and Melita, had originally tried to seek an exemption from a law obliging telecommunications companies to inform their clients of any new tariffs and give them 30 days to exit the contract without getting penalised.
The Malta Communications Authority rejected this request and therefore the companies agreed among each other to send these letters to consumers at the same time, to inform them that people who don’t pay via direct debit will be charged an additional monthly tariff of between €1 to €2.
He warned that this move will likely have the most impact on pensioners who aren’t comfortable with online banking services.
After he flagged the case, Minister for Inclusion and Consumer Affairs Julia Farrugia Portelli announced that she has asked the Competition Office to investigate whether the telecommunications companies are breaching competition law.
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