Czech legal amendment will make switching mobile operators easier

It should become easier for people in the Czech Republic to change mobile operators, if an amendment passed by the Czech Senate is signed into law by President Miloš Zeman.

If
approved,
the amendment will take effect as of April
2020. Operators have previously stated that they have been
anticipating the changes.

The amendment
calls for reducing the penalty for
switching to another mobile operator and
shortening the
time limit for the operator to transferring
the telephone number. This should lead to
more competition between operators and ultimately help to reduce
prices.

The fine for
switching to another mobile operator will decrease from 20%
to 5% of the price they still have until the contract expires. In the
case of termination of a fixed-term contract, people would not pay
anything after three months of its duration.

The time for the
operator to change a person’s number when switching mobile carriers
will be shortened from 10 days to two business days in most
circumstances. The customer would also not have to contact their
existing operator when switching to the competition.

The amendment also explicitly states that porting a telephone number is free of charge. However, your carrier might charge for unused credit.

Tools for helping
people chose which operator offers the best deals and service will
also be created.

A calculator will
also be created to allow clients to compare prices of individual
operators independently. A comparative tool operated by the Czech
Telecommunications Office (ČTÚ) would
also assess the quality of services.

The law will also
introduce sanctions for failure to comply
with the European regulation on the price of calls and text messages
abroad within the European Union.