Armenian SCPEC fined “ArmenTel” company for 500 thousand AMD

Yerevan/Mediamax/. State Committee for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) of Armenia fined “ArmenTel” company (Beeline trademark) for 500 thousand AMD “for misleading the consumers and unfair competition”.

Chairman of SCPEC Artak Shaboyan stated at the Committee session that in May, 2010, “ArmenTel” Company announced a campaign for getting connection to “Hi Line for All” internet connection, which provided for free of charge connection, provision of a modem and internet in the course of a month.

SCPEC Chairman informed that the company received a complaint from a consumer, according to which “ArmenTel” company collects 3000 AMD within the framework of the free of charge campaign for connection to Hi Line; however this information is not mentioned in the advertisement of Beeline.

Basing on the complaint, the Committee initiated administrative proceedings, as a result of which they found out that “AA-soft” company, which realized ADSL modem delivery, offers subscribers a paid service to set up the software on the personal computer (PC), which misleads the consumers, since “ArmenTel” company does not publish information on the paid service.

Chairman of the Committee expressed an opinion that use of “free connection” word combination in the ad instead of “free activation” misleads the consumers and is a manifestation of unfair competition.

SCPEC ordered “ArmenTel” Company to stop and in future to eliminate the likelihood of carrying out advertisement campaigns, misleading the consumers.

Head of the Legal Service of the Company David Sandukhchyan stated that “ArmenTel” signed an agreement with “AA-soft” company on delivery of modems; however the agreement lacks a provision on paid setup of the modems in the PC. According to him, “ArmenTel” company cannot be responsible for the business activity of the third party.

At that he noted that free of charge information on modem setup in the computer is placed at the official website of the operator, in the guideline for users, and is also provided at by “100” short number.

David Sandukhchyan also noted that while purchasing electric appliances (TV set, a cell phone), one needs setup, which can be realized both by consumers and by specialists for a particular sum.