Bahrain: Warnings have been issued against three Bahrain telecom companies for charging customers additional money for using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services such as Skype and Facetime.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) issued an “emergency order” after it was bombarded with complaints about the new charges that were announced yesterday by the three firms.
The operators revealed they would start offering VoIP “add-on” services at a cost of BD5 per month, which caused uproar among mobile phone users who accused them of trying to boost revenues by exploiting customers.
Sources told the GDN the services, which are currently available at no extra price, would have continued to be accessible for free to those who did not pay the extra BD5 – but with restrictions on quality of VoIP applications.
“Given the fact that the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is in receipt of a substantial amount of complaints over the degradation of VoIP applications by the three public licensed mobile operators, the authority has issued an emergency order to the three mobile operators,” said a TRA statement.
“Following its investigation into the matter, the authority believes that the mobile operators have effectively changed the terms and conditions of their service without the written approval of the authority which is in turn a breach of their licence conditions.”
TRA general director Mohammed Bubashait warned that serious action would be taken if the telecom operators do not rectify the violation.
“In line with the authority’s role and responsibility in protecting consumers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the authority will be taking appropriate action to ensure that the operators comply with the terms and conditions of their licence and obtain the authority’s approval before embarking on any change,” he said.
All three operators have yet to issue an official comment.
Mobile phone users took to Twitter yesterday to express outrage over the charges with many signing a petition against the three firms.
“Instead of spreading net neutrality, these companies are working against this cause,” stated the petition, Stop VoIP Add-ons in Bahrain, on change.org.
One user, @RaziAmin, said, “Bahrain consumers should not (telecom operators) get away with this VoIP charge. Complain to TRA.”
Another user chose humour to deal with the situation: “So (telecom operators) to charge us for Free VoIP services? Fine. Call me on my ‘cup phone’,” said @Ali_Alsabbagh.
While another, @iamwaleed, said, “The quality of VoIP has been reduced substantially by telecoms. Just enough to make it unusable and legally say ‘we still offer it’.”
The popularity and business model of services such as Skype, Line, Viber and WhatsApp, where users can text or make calls without having to pay extra money, has been a bone of contention with global telecom providers.
Former Minister of State for Communications Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa in 2013 announced they were studying to regulate VoIP services because the applications accounted for a significant percentage of business for Bahrain’s telecoms providers, both in terms of fixed line and mobile broadband usage.
A study, released at the time, revealed Skype as the preferred VoIP application for fixed broadband; while Viber was the application of choice for mobile broadband, closely followed by Skype.
Batelco last night confirmed it was committed to abide by the TRA directives.
“Batelco has received the emergency order from TRA,” said a Batelco spokesman. “Batelco is compliant with the order and always abides by the laws of the Kingdom of Bahrain including the directives laid out for the regulation of telecommunications in Bahrain as set by the TRA.”
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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