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The telecom regulatory authority (ictQATAR) under the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology has issued a set of new guidelines for the telecom service providers in the country on advertising, sales and information transparency in its Telecommunications Consumer Protection Policy that was released yesterday.
The guidelines include requirements that a service provider shall not make misleading representations in advertising or promotions and ensure that customers are not misled about who is actually providing the telecommunications products and services. It also says that the operators must ensure content about its products and services is truthful, accurate and not misleading or confusing to a reasonable customer.
As per the new policy, the operators are liable for breaches of the licence by a third party provider and adhere to the general principles of behaviour with respect to advertising and promotional activity. It specifies that the service provider shall be honest and truthful, clearly disclose all necessary information to the customer before, during, and after the point of sale and not take advantage of a customer’s lack of experience or knowledge.
The new policy also stipulates that a service provider shall not unfairly criticise, discredit or denigrate a competitor or its services and shall not create an unfair advantage through comparisons with other competitors or their products. Moreover service provider shall be clear on who is offering what in joint advertising and ensure that “free” means free.
Furthermore the service providers should ensure that “fine print” does not contradict, materially qualify or otherwise alter the basis of the marketing communication or practice. They must ensure that use of statistics or results from research in any advertising quotes the source of the study, or produce the methodology and results. Service providers must not use technical jargon that may confuse or mislead and should not go outside the law or encourage others to do so.
A service provider shall not make any false or misleading claim or suggestion regarding the availability, price or quality of its telecommunications services or equipment or the telecommunications services or equipment of another service provider. All information made available to consumers about a telecommunications service shall be accurate and updated soon if there are any changes to the terms of the service.
Service providers must give retail customers at least one chargeable period’s notice in advance of increases in recurring charges- at least one month’s notice in advance in case of a monthly recurring charge. They must publish any increase in price in one local Arabic newspaper and one local English newspaper. For mobile subscribers any price increases must also be announced via SMS or USSD.
Service providers must comply with the rules, conditions, standards, and practices set out in the new policy and are liable for the actions of agents, such as third party sellers.