We have few operators and high prices in Slovakia. What are we gonna do with it?
Slovakia has some of the highest prices for telephony and data in Europe. Many customers do not like this and therefore the citizens’ initiative called “I want to choose” is launching a petition against the high prices of mobile operators.
The reason for the high prices is also the absence of full-fledged virtual operators. Brands such as Juro, FunFón and Radosť act as virtual operators, but they are directly supported by mobile network operators. In other words, they are not independent operators who could use existing networks under wholesale conditions and offer services to end customers under their own brand or under the brands of partners.
Abroad, the services of virtual operators are also used to mediate, for example, retail chains, energy suppliers and even football clubs.
Good competition is the way to lower prices
The mentioned civic initiative I want to choose therefore launches a petition on the website www.chcemsivyberat.sk. The aim is to achieve the same situation on the Slovak market as in the vast majority of other EU countries, where dozens of virtual operators operate, and thanks to this there is also greater pressure on the final prices of services. Good competition is the way to lower prices.
“Undoubtedly, greater market opening undoubtedly puts pressure on prices and contributes to innovation, as we saw more than a decade ago with the liberalization of the energy market, which has allowed customers to choose between several electricity and gas distributors. Unfortunately, in the field of mobile services, we have not yet seen a similar situation in Slovakia, although, for example, the first virtual operator was established in the United Kingdom in 1999, ” explains Michal Rybárik, one of the initiators of the civic initiative I want to choose.
“The main tool in the Office’s possession is to combine the allocation of frequencies for public mobile networks with the condition that the network be made available on a wholesale basis, under conditions which allow the retail offer to be replicated.” supplied by M. Rybárik.
Finally, it is worth mentioning the fact that compared to Israel, Slovakia has a 70 times higher price for 1 GB of data.
You can support the petition at lower prices, for more competition and for better customer service at www.chcemsivyberat.sk.
