KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) says mobile service providers, Digicel and FLOW, are now expected to provide clearer pricing and framing information in their advertisements about their products and services.

This is part of the second phase of OUR’s decision for these companies to provide more detailed information on stand-alone services or service packages to their customers. The first phase was implemented on October 18.

The decisions are in the OUR’s Determination Notice titled: Improving Information Transparency in Telecommunication Markets.

The OUR has stipulated that the following four decisions be implemented by both telecoms providers as of December 18, 2020:

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[naviga:li]Clearer Pricing and Framing Information in Advertisements – There must be accurate and full information on the service being offered. Service providers must ensure that where there is a challenge to provide details of their products or service in the advertisement space, they must indicate where customers can access more information. Such access must be free of charge to the customer.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]General Provision of Information on a Service (Bundled/Unbundled) – There must be clearly stated current prices and all applicable charges, as well as full contract details that must include all pertinent information such as caps, inclusive minutes/SMS/data, exclusions, limitations and the duration of any fixed commitment period and any limitation to the use of such service.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Clear information for roaming customers – This should include detailed pricing, inclusions, exclusions and restrictions on the available roaming service(s) and the risks of automatic roaming to include how to turn off data and voice roaming services on devices. Telecoms providers must also provide a free-to-access contact number to allow customers to check their usage level status while roaming.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Method of publication of information on services – Customers should have access to all information, written in plain English, on the products and services on offer. The information must be available on all platforms used by the service provider. Where electronic platforms are used to purchase the service (e.g. Apps), all information on the service must be provided on the platform when the service is being purchased/contracted. Telecoms providers must promote services specifically available for persons with disabilities, and how they can access such services.[/naviga:li]

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OUR said its decision to issue this Determination Notice follows complaints from mobile telecommunications customers about issues such as:

·       Unexpectedly high call charges for post-paid subscribers;

·       Non-receipt of notification when data credit is nearly exhausted, or has been exhausted;

·       Incidents of rapid credit depletion when credit is applied for data use, in the case of prepaid customers; and,

·       Exhaustion of data plan credit when mobile data is disabled on their devices.