Vega Appeals Agency Decision

Representatives of Western Wireless International have filed an appeal with Slovenia's Ministry of information society to annul the decision the Telecommunications, Broadcasting and Mail Agency issued just before Christmas, closing down the file on an extensive complaint Vega had filed early last year in an effort to improve the competitive situation in the market.

"The Agency in its decision says that it took this step due to key changes in the market," said general manager of Vega Julien Coustaury after the Agency decided to stop a probe launched as a result of their complaint. "It makes no sense. Nine months down the road it still costs three times as much to call off-net than it does to call on-net. In the case of most popular packages, the differential even increased recently," he commented.

Vega claims the Agency has committed several errors in their decision making process, the largest one of them being use of wrong methodology to best suit the desired result. The Agency namely made calculation in the decision to show progress that had never occurred.

The appeal also points to several inconsistencies in the decision itself that are grounds for the Ministry to act. Among them the fact that the Agency ignored documentation submitted by Vega, which supports their claim.

This appeal comes just months before Slovenia's accession to the EU, where concern over the state of telecommunications in the country has been repeatedly voiced both in meetings with high EU representatives, as well as reports on Slovenia's progress with regards to telecommunications.

"Someone needs to act. And they need to act fast," says Coustaury. "It has been more than nine months now and we are just where we started. All of us still agree that the conditions are bad and that change must occur. But the political will still is not there."

Posted to the site on 23rd January 2004