If the mobile Internet is too slow, mobile phone users have little recourse against providers. That should change now. However, it will be difficult to prove underperformance.
Mobile network operators do not always fulfill their promise of fast mobile Internet. The Telecommunications Act therefore gives consumers the right to reduce the contractually agreed fee if the transmission speed is too low. The Federal Network Agency has now published key points in which cases this should be possible in the future. Telecommunications companies, consumer advocates and other interested parties have until September 30th to comment.
“With the key points, we start the discussion process for the planned regulations on the right to reduce mobile Internet access,” said the President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller. The aim is to help consumers at the end of the process to be able to assert their rights for mobile communications in the future.
The problem, however, is that proving reduced performance is significantly more complex in mobile communications than in the fixed network. After all, the service is not provided at a fixed location. The decisive factor is therefore how efficient the networks of the providers are in the individual regions. The Federal Network Agency is therefore planning to use differentiated deductions as a basis for determining a reduction-relevant deviation from the contractually agreed service.
According to the Federal Network Agency, a possible discount could be 75 percent in urban areas, 85 percent in semi-urban areas and 90 percent in rural areas. “These discounts may seem high. In view of the often agreed maximum speeds of several hundred Mbit/s, even with such discounts, there are still high data transmission rates for most end customers,” emphasized the authority.
In order to be able to assert reduction claims, however, consumers will have to do a lot. According to current plans, a total of 30 measurements over five calendar days using a measurement tool provided by the Federal Network Agency should be necessary. Mobile phone users still have to be patient. The authority was initially unable to say when a general decree on the reduction regulations for mobile Internet access can be expected.