The need to protect consumer rights and ensure greater transparency in the sector has led ANACOM to adopt a draft decision to regulate offers that advertise unlimited internet traffic or unlimited voice calls/SMS.
ANACOM's draft decision stems from complaints received from consumers who signed up to such offers in the belief that they would have unrestricted access and no limitations to services - being "unlimited" - but subsequently found that this was not the case and that in fact the offers did impose certain limits on use.
ANACOM considers that this situation has to be corrected - an offer cannot be advertised as "unlimited" (or use any other expression that leads consumers to such a conclusion) and then apply limits; this misleads consumers and runs contrary to legal requirements of transparency and suitability of information made available to the public.
ANACOM has confirmed that so-called "unlimited" offers contain provisions in their general conditions of service, in the terms governing offers and in pages publicising tariffs on operator websites, for operators to impose restrictions on speed of access to the service once a certain volume of traffic internet, voice call or SMS traffic is reached, under responsible use policy. In most cases, disclosure of this policy is insufficient and lacking in transparency. Indeed, in such situations, offers cannot be advertised as "unlimited".
Therefore, ANACOM's draft decision, which is submitted to public consultation for a period of 20 working days, determines that operators may only use the terms "unlimited internet traffic" or "unlimited voice calls/SMS" to describe offers that effectively have no limits or restrictions throughout the contract period.
Operators should refrain from describing offers as having "unlimited traffic" or "unlimited calls/SMS" where any restrictions on use are imposed when certain limits are reached - except where restrictions result from exceptional circumstances under the terms of the law.
ANACOM's draft decision also requires operators to provide clear and transparent information in their terms and conditions on any measures that may be employed to restrict traffic on an exceptional basis.
Consult:
- Consultation on use of the term ''unlimited'' when referring to offers of electronic communications services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1189166
