Telecommunications and post: more complaints in the pandemic

Telecommunications and postal services have been used particularly heavily since Corona. According to the authorities, the number of complaints about lost packages or misuse of phone numbers has increased significantly.

The telecommunications network has been particularly popular in the past two years. And every now and then it doesn’t go as the users imagine – this time too at the online press conference of the Federal Network Agency and the Monopo Commission: It had to be temporarily interrupted due to line problems.

Overall, however, from the perspective of the Federal Network Agency, the situation with regard to network expansion is still better than its reputation: “Overall, Germany has a good level of coverage,” says Jochen Homann, head of the authorities. “Gigabit speeds were available for over 62 percent of households in the middle of the year; almost 90 percent had access to connections with 100 megabits per second.”

Existing infrastructure partially unused

Jürgen Kühling, chairman of the Monopolies Commission, also sees it that way. The problem is already more that not all possibilities are being exploited that are already there. “The fact is that only 30 percent of the available fiber optic connections are actually used,” said Kühling. So there is more the problem that the existing infrastructures are not being used in part, “than that we only have one problem with building the infrastructures further”.

The area coverage has also improved significantly in mobile communications and can now be seen in international comparison, according to the Federal Network Agency – even if there are still blank spots in rural regions.

The number of complaints is increasing

The misuse of phone numbers, among other things, causes annoyance for many consumers. The Federal Network Agency had already received more than 138,000 written complaints and inquiries by the end of November. “If you compare that with the corresponding period of the previous year, there were 84,000, then you get an impression of how much the number has increased here,” explains Homann. “That’s pretty huge.”

Above all, there were complaints about unauthorized advertising faxes in which, for example, masks and corona rapid tests were advertised. There were even more complaints about spam messages via SMS. Links were often sent in it, which criminals could then use to try, for example, to access data.

Word of the possibility of complaints got around

In absolute numbers, the complaints in the postal and parcel sector are significantly lower, but they are also increasing noticeably. On the one hand, more and more people are now aware of the possibility of a complaint – for example because of damaged or lost parcels. On the other hand, an amendment to the Postal Act came into force this year. It obliges all postal companies to take part in arbitration proceedings at the Federal Network Agency. As a result, by the end of September there were a good 2,800 complaints, over 50 percent more than in the previous year.

According to Homann, the authority is happy to be able to help citizens with this instrument, especially in “cases where the consumer does not even go to court because in the end it is too risky for him to find what is on the store The game may be at a cost to him “.

Competition stimulates business

The Federal Network Agency and the Monopoly Commission see the market situation as positive for the parcel market. There is sufficient competition from Deutsche Post – especially since the online retailer Amazon has been expanding its own deliveries.

However, the Monopolies Commission is not so happy with the letters. The Post continues to have a “quasi-monopoly”. That is why the Commission is calling for the Postal Act to be reformed. However, according to a study by the Federal Network Agency, Swiss Post is currently still below the international average when it comes to the price of postage for a standard letter.