The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, or AMCU, has fined Ukraine’s biggest mobile operator Kyivstar for spreading wrong information about its prices.
Kyivstar has paid the Hr 21 million fine, which is about $800,000, Antimonopoly Committee Head Yuriy Terentyev said on Aug. 7. Terentyev also published documents proving that the transaction took place on July 27.
Kyivstar was accused of holding unfair competition as the company spread misleading information about its fees through its ads.
Kyivstar is Ukraine’s biggest mobile operator serving 26.5 million customers. The operator’s profit in 2017 was record-breaking in the history of the company reaching Hr 16.5 billion, or about $627 million.
The Antimonopoly Committee charged Kyivstar back in December, but the mobile operator appealed. The parties were waiting for the court’s decision which until recently sided with AMCU.
The carrier advertised that it would charge money per every second of a conversation by phone. But in reality, the carrier immediately writes off the minute-worth sum, about Hr 2, according to AMCU.
It didn’t matter whether users talked for two or 45 seconds over the phone, they were charged for a full minute. And although all the carriers charge this way, the use of misleading ads breached article 15 of the Law of Ukraine “On Protection from Unfair Competition.”
Terentyev told the Kyiv Post on Aug. 8 that this fine is “a reminder that unfair competition practices… are on the radar of the AMCU.”
“Communication and advertising practices should be clear and understandable for consumers,” Terentyev said. “I welcome the voluntary payment of the company as it shows the willingness to continue the business in a compliant way.
Consumers will eventually benefit from more transparency in the telecom market and better quality of service.”
Apart from paying the fine, Kyivstar has agreed to change its ad campaigns that might give the wrong impression about its fees in the future.
Kyivstar’s spokesperson Ganna Korotych told the Kyiv Post that the operator has “always been abiding by Ukraine’s laws and acting for the benefit of its customers.”
“The operator took appropriate measures in advance to make communication more understandable,” Korotych said on Aug. 8.
It’s not the first case when a mobile operator has been fined for misleading advertisement information: the third biggest carrier lifecell was fined Hr 19 million, or $700,000, in September.
The Kyiv Post’s technology coverage is sponsored by Ciklum and NIX Solutions. The content is independent of the donors.
