Online petition targets mobile phone time windows

Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas, an MEP candidate for the Nationalist Party, is urging people to sign an online petition against time windows imposed on pre-paid mobile phone customers.

A newly-launched site, www.bantimewindows.org, comes just days after Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil urged the Malta Communications Authority to probe imposed time windows, which, he said, constituted an unfair deal for consumers.

Dr Metsola Tedesco Triccas said on the website that about 87 per cent of mobile phone users were on pre-paid plans and time windows were not only an unfair practice but also a barrier to competition.

"It is unfair for consumers to lose their credit and face higher charges simply because their time window has lapsed," she said, adding that operators had no objective justification to keep such time windows, which only served to increase revenue to the detriment of consumers.