MTS' Pervy Tariff Plan Ad Violates Law

MOSCOW, Jan 26 (Prime-Tass) -- An advertisement for the Pervy tariff plan by Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) violates advertising law, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said in an official ruling Friday.

The service initiated the case against MTS after the company failed to properly disclose a connection fee in an advertisement for the tariff plan.

The company claimed in the ad that outgoing calls cost U.S. $0.07 per minute, while actually charging users $0.18 for the first minute of a call, the regulator said.

The advertisement displayed the cost of the first minute in an unclear font, thus misleading consumers, the regulator said.

MTS launched the advertisement for the Pervy tariff plan in July 2006, just after the Calling Party Pays (CPP) principle came into force in Russia and made most incoming calls free of charge. Mobile operators introduced connection fees on some of their tariff plans as compensation for additional costs associated with the introduction of the CPP principle.

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Posted to the site on 27th January 2007