Austrian govt unveils telecom law change proposal

The Austrian government has approved a telecom law change proposal from the minister for infrastructure Doris Bures. The change will strengthened the position of consumers by including more protection against so-called bill shocks with regards to telephony and data services as well as the right for free telecom bills on paper, a shorter minimal contract period, earlier contract termination possibilities and increased conditions transparency before signing the definitive contract. The bill offers Austrian telecommunications regulator RTR the possibility to oblige telecom operators to offer their customers more tools to check their bills and contracts without demanding fees to use these tools. This include alerts when a data limit is reached or when a certain cost level is reached as well as data service limitations to control possible excessive data consumption by for example children. The maximum minimal contract period for telecom contracts is limited at 12 months instead of the current practice of 24 months.