With regard to the sanctions inflicted today by Italy’s Communications Oversight Authority, Telecom Italia states that:
- concerning the unrequested activation of ADSL services, only six cases occurred between April and early July 2009. Since July 2009, Telecom Italia extended the voice recording of orders (known as verbal ordering) to all ADSL service-related sales procedures, in order to further increase customer protection especially when subscribing to offers over the phone;
- as for the single Alice Pay case that was sanctioned, since the service’s inauguration Telecom Italia has guaranteed the utmost transparency on costs, contents and charging methods. In April 2010 further safeguards were introduced, such as having to input the last three digits of the fixed-line number of the customer performing the transaction, the possibility of completely disabling the service on one’s phone line, in addition to a written confirmation of any purchases made that is given before the bimonthly invoice (in which the customer is charged for the cost of the purchases) is sent to the customer. To further safeguard customers, an authentication system based on user ID and password will be introduced by early 2011.
Telecom Italia takes this occasion to stress its constant commitment to implementing increasingly transparent business practices aimed at safeguarding its customers.
To this effect, Telecom Italia states that it is willing to cooperate with the Communications Oversight Authority.
Rome, October 5, 2010
