Europe to quash "free" laptop deals

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 15 Sep 2008 at 13:34

The European Parliament is set to approve legislation that will effectively outlaw deals for "free" laptops with mobile broadband connections.

There has been a huge swell of offers in recent months of so-called "free" or heavily-subsidised laptops with three-year mobile broadband contracts.

However, a proposed package of EU legislation on the electronic communications market includes a measure to prohibit mobile contracts to only two years.

At a briefing held in London this morning, MEP Malcolm Harbour, who is leading the European Parliament's team of rapporteurs for the legislation, said that would necessarily bring an end to the three-year laptop deals. "The regulator [Ofcom] would have to cut them to 24 months," he said. "Three years is a very long time in the evolution of this mobile telecoms world."

Mobile broadband providers will, of course, be able to offer two-year deals, but the monthly fee required to cover the cost of the hardware would likely make them a much harder sell to consumers.

The legislation will introduce a number of other measures designed to improve users' rights with mobile services, including an obligation on networks to reveal any restrictions on mobile broadband services, such as whether VoIP services are banned.

"Operators of mobile services need to be more transparent about restrictions of services," said Harbour. "This will become more important as people move to mobile internet services.

"People need to be told if a service is restricted," he said, referring to mobile networks that ban services such as Skype. "They also need to be told if there's a retrospective change."

Keeping numbers

Mobile networks will also be compelled to transfer a customer's existing mobile phone number to the new network of their choice within a single working day. "Mobile operators are not delivering mobile number porting anywhere near as quickly as they could do," Harbour claimed. "You should be able to have your number switched within 24 hours."

However, there are no plans to strengthen the European legislation for people attempting to switch fixed-line broadband providers, who can often be left waiting for months before anombudsman such as Otelo will mediate in disputes with ISPs.

"Ofcom does have the teeth to do it," Harbour insisted, when challenged on the failure of MEPs to consider the issue. "It's not our job as Euro MPs to tell the [national] regulators how to do it."

However, he did insist that broadband providers should give customers a firm indication of the speeds and level of service they can expect. "Operators should be telling you what is the quality of service they are providing," he added.

MEPs are due to vote on the new proposals next week, with Harbour confident that all measures will be accepted by the Parliament.