Government grants increases for Internet, telephone, cable TV services

The government has authorised increases of up to 9.8 percent for Internet, fixed telephone line, cable television and satellite services, but only for small and medium-sized companies with fewer than 100,000 customers. The increase will be applied as from January and was formalised by a resolution by the Enacom national communications agency in the Official Gazette.

Prices for such services were frozen last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, and cut-offs for non-payment were also prohibited. In January 2021, a general adjustment of five percent, followed by another eight percent, was authorised for providers who had not increased prices for plans and services during 2020. A month later, another increase of up to seven percent was applied for companies with less than 100,000 customers. Later, the government applied another five-percent increase, retroactive to July, for telecommunications.

Enacom justified this latest move by stating that "new requests for increases have been received after the last increases authorised until July 2021, especially from smaller providers such as cooperatives and PyMES."