Poland’s competition authority UOKiK has imposed a fine of PLN 80.8 million (€19.1 million) on Vectra and ordered it to compensate customers over what it describes as unlawful subscription increases for its TV and internet services.
UOKiK found that Vectra had for years unilaterally changed contract terms by inserting a modification clause into ongoing agreements and using it – alongside an “inflation clause” – to raise monthly fees, despite earlier interventions by the watchdog over similar practices. The operator was previously fined over PLN 22 million in 2022 for contract changes and illegal price rises and more than PLN 68 million in 2024 for inflation-linked clauses that were ruled abusive.
Once the decision is finalised, Vectra must stop using the contested provisions and return the value of the increases to customers, either via refunds or bill discounts for current subscribers, with former customers receiving cash payments.
In a statement, Vectra said it “disagrees” with the ruling and insists its actions complied with both UOKiK’s earlier guidance and Poland’s new telecoms law. The company argues it is in a “regulatory stalemate”, required to include clauses allowing unilateral changes but then punished for using them, and claims it is effectively being fined twice for the same 2019–2020 contract changes. President Paweł Dlouchy also dismissed the regulator’s suggestion that Vectra terminate and individually renegotiate contracts with hundreds of thousands of customers as “practically unfeasible”, pointing to cumulative inflation of more than 50% since 2019 as a key driver for the price adjustments.
