Trade Ministry tells telecom companies to end policy of disconnecting prepaid line services

AMMAN — The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply has called on Jordan’s three telecom companies to immediately halt the policy of disconnecting prepaid line services the day following the expiration date and refrain from decisions that “disturb market mechanisms and free competition”.

“The ministry has addressed the mobile operating companies in official letters to end such practice, and they will be held accountable,” Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Maha Al  Ali said in a statement made available to The Jordan Times.

The minister noted that the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) had referred to the ministry the complaints it received regarding mobile operating companies’ suspension of prepaid lines after one day of the subscription’s expiration date.

The TRC requested that the matter be referred to the ministry’s competitiveness department which is considered to be the administrative authority concerned with the implementation of Competitiveness Law No. 33 of 2004 and its amendments.

Ali pointed out that based on the results of a study conducted by the ministry’s department of competitiveness, it was found that the three mobile services operators applied new terms relating to the disconnection of services to prepaid subscribers, leading to breaches of competition, as well as, limiting subscribers’ options.

Previously, the period of time the three mobile services companies granted to prepaid subscribers to get incoming calls even after the expiry of the plan was one month, the statement added.

However, the companies followed a new policy, which imposed “a new reality that forces subscribers to immediately renew their subscriptions in order to active their lines”.

The Competitiveness Law No. (33) of 2004 and its amendments prohibit any practices that violate, limit or prevent competition, particularly practices that aim to determine the prices of goods, service allowances and sale conditions.