From November 1st, telecommunications operators will have to pay a small amount of compensation in the event of a network disruption.

From November 1, telecom operators will have to pay compensation to their customers if they are without internet or telephone for at least eight hours. This is the result of new legislation that will soon come into force.

The compensation regulation applies to:

• Internet glitches fixed;
• Mobile and landline telephone subscriptions, in the event of disruptions at the time of billing;
• Prepaid cell phone cards, at your place of residence.

The regulation (Article 113/2 of the Telecommunications Act) is based on similar legislation in the Netherlands.

Financial compensation after eight hours

The new regulation stipulates that customers will receive at least one euro in compensation if telecommunications services are interrupted for more than eight hours. If the interruption lasts longer than 24 hours, an additional fee of one euro plus fifty euro cents per day will be charged. This arrangement is intended to compensate customers for long-term outages that are beyond their control.

For customers with a more expensive subscription, the refund will be higher. If the monthly costs correspond to an amount of more than one euro per day, the operator must pay higher compensation. In this case, customers are entitled to at least one-thirtieth of their monthly subscription cost.

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Telecom operators also have the option to offer compensation in kind, such as a free movie or other service. However, this must be worth at least as much as the financial compensation. If the customer does not agree to the material compensation, the operator must still pay the financial compensation.

However, the compensation scheme does not apply if the interruption is due to force majeure, such as natural disasters or other unforeseen events beyond the control of the operator. With the new legislation, the government aims to encourage telecom operators to make their services more reliable and provide fair compensation to customers in the event of problems.