Last year, the arbitration board of the Federal Network Agency processed fewer disputes between telecommunications providers and their customers than in the previous year. This emerges from the activity report of the arbitration board for telecommunications, which the Federal Network Agency published on Friday. According to this, the authority processed 1,622 applications last year; in 2020 there were still 1844.
According to the information, an agreement was reached in 620 cases, 572 proceedings remained unsuccessful. The arbitration board rejected 440 applications, of which 35 were then resolved with a goodwill decision by the provider concerned. Among the cases processed in the past year were some that were still received in 2020.
dispute over contracts
The Telecommunications Arbitration Board of the Federal Network Agency mediates in disputes between companies and customers. An attempt is made to find an amicable solution. About half of the proceedings related to the fixed network and the other half to mobile communications. The Federal Network Agency gives the average duration of the procedure as nine weeks.
The disputes dealt with in the 2021 activity report are mainly about contractual matters such as unfulfilled performance parameters, terms or terminations (63 percent). A fifth of the cases concerned bills. 54 disputes (4 percent) involved a move, 35 cases related to a change of provider or number porting.
(Image: Federal Network Agency)
Voluntary participation
“Last year, too, the telecommunications companies often took part in the arbitration proceedings of our consumer arbitration board,” explained the head of the authorities, Jochen Homann. The telecommunications providers participate voluntarily in the arbitration proceedings. The number of cases in which companies refused to participate fell from 293 (2020) to 235 cases. In 325 cases, the applicants withdrew their applications.
The Federal Network Agency “tends” to expect an “increase in the number of applications”. The amendment to the Telecommunications Act (TKG) created a regulatory framework that strengthened customer and consumer rights and created a legal entitlement to high-speed Internet. This opens “extended scope for action” for the arbitration board.
(vbr)