Is it legal for telephone operators to raise their rates without the user’s consent?

In it Perufrom time to time it has become common for different users to report, through social networks, their discomfort and disagreement with telephone operators due to the increases in the rates of its services —despite the fact that the initial contract stipulated a certain price according to the user’s need. Is it legal for these telecommunications companies to raise their rates without consent and what rights do I have?

According to the official website of Osiptel, the telephone operators Yes, they can increase the service rate but they must do so with prior communication to the users. The agency emphasizes that what the company cannot do is provide a service with fewer benefits to those already established in the contract, such as reducing the number of minutes, data, additional services, among others.

Can Osiptel prevent companies from increasing their rates?

Osiptel assures, in the Frequently Asked Questions section of its web portal, that it cannot prevent the rate increases made by the operating companies, since, in the market for public services of telecommunicationsthe operating companies are governed by free market conditions; that is, they are free to set their rates, with the exception of the fixed telephony service of Telefónica.

“The operating companies do not require Osiptel’s approval to modify their rates for public telecommunications services, they are only obliged to inform their users of this modification in advance,” the agency maintains.

In the case of Telefónica: what rules must it follow in the face of an increase in its rates?

According to the agency, if the rate increase corresponds to to the fixed internet access service provided, individually or in a package, telephone must comply with the following rules:

• Register the rates in the Osiptel Rate Information and Registration System (SIRT) 30 calendar days in advance and not just 15as in the rest of the markets and companies.
• Notify users of the increase in their rate, in addition to giving you plan options to which you can migrate and other pertinent information.
• To user must remind you 10 days beforein case you didn’t see the first communication.
• have a web application and a mobile application that provides personalized information and that allows to attend requests for migration, temporary suspension and cancellation, which must be executed within the short deadlines set by Osiptel.

What information should the rate increase notice contain?

• The tariff concept subject to the increase.
• The nominal value of the new and old rate, including the IGV and its periodicity.
• The effective date of the new rate.
• The right to migrate to another rate plan.
• The user’s right to terminate the contract.
• The list of the three established rates of plans marketed with monthly rents immediately lower than the rent of the plan with the increase, together with the description of its most relevant characteristics or attributes.

What to do in the face of a rate increase?

Osiptel remembers that if you received a communication from your operating company informing you that it will increase your rate and you do not agree with it, You have the power to choose the service that best suits you at a rate according to your possibilities, either with your current operator or with another. In your right as a user you can:

• Request migration to a lower income plan.
• Request the cancellation of the service.
• Request the temporary suspension of the service (between 15 and 60 calendar days a year).
• Hire a new service with another operating company.
• Change the operating company, through number portability.

About, jamie delgadoan expert in consumer protection, recommended that users migrate to another company in case you do not agree with the new rate amount. “The companies raise the rates when they feel like it and they communicate it to us as if it were an offer. “We have improved your plan and you have to pay a few more soles,” they say. What if one does not agree? Well, he has to go, because it is assumed that a person contracted a rate plan based on his possibilities, ”he said.

“Luckily, there is the right to number portability, which means that you can switch to another company without having to lose your phone number. If you do not agree with it, find another operator, ”he stressed.