Hungarian competition watchdog slaps EUR 5.5m fine on Telenor Hungary

The Hungarian competition watchdog GVH imposed a 5.45-million-euro (6-million-U.S.-dollar) fine on mobile provider Telenor Hungary for misleading commercial practices, GVH said Friday in a statement.

“Telenor Hungary Ltd. had committed an infringement for over a year by failing to inform its customers in its advertisements promoting mobile devices for free or at a reduced price that if they chose to obtain a device their subscription fees would be higher than if they chose the same subscription contract without a device,” GVH said.

“The authority imposed a fine of EUR 5.45 million on the undertaking for its infringement,” the statement added.

GVH also noted that its inspection revealed the mobile provider’s communication (in the form of TV ads, fliers, Facebook ads) to customers promoting devices for free or at a reduced price as part of the Telenor Blue tariff package constituted unfair commercial practices against customers between 2016 and 2017.

The mobile provider argued that the penalty was disproportionate and said it would appeal the fine. (1 euro = 1.11 U.S. dollars)

Source: Xinhua – BUDAPEST