Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has ruled against the telco operator Netia.
In a statement, it says it was contacted by individuals who complained about unsolicited calls from Netia. Having analysed the calls, it concluded that Netia called the individuals to offer them a contract, even though it did not have their consent to be contacted for direct marketing purposes.
Commenting on Netia’s action, Marek Niechcial, president of UOKiK, said: “This is against the telecommunications law. Netia has bought ready-made databases with phone numbers, but that does not release it from its liability. Our investigation showed that consumers’ consents to be contacted for direct marketing purposes were not properly obtained. The operator also tried to obtain them during a telephone conversation, which is inconsistent with the provisions of the law”.
Netia avoided a fine because it undertook to change the rules of cooperation with its partners.
However, it will give compensation to consumers. This applies to all persons whom the company called, even if they did not decide to make use of its services.
Netia is one of Poland’s leading telecom companies and has ben majority owned by Cyfrowy Polsat since May 2018. It had 217,000 TV customers at the end of Q1 this year.
