Increased subscription to the orange inflation item

Orange introduced inflation clauses in mid-2022. They provide the opportunity to raise prices based on the rate of inflation. The fact of its launch was announced by Jacek Kunicki, member of the financial management board.

– Inflation items were not an important topic for us in 2023. This is not a way to get rich, but a hedge against high inflation for a long time. You could say it’s our “insurance policy”. This year, we’re launching inflation clauses for customers who have fixed-line internet and fixed package Internet access contracts for an indefinite period. In practice, this will apply to many thousands of customers who signed a contract for an indefinite period after May 2022, when these clauses appeared in our new contracts. This year, the activation of the Terms will not apply to customers of our other services, – explained Konecki.

This year, there are no higher prices for TV services

Is it planned to activate inflation conditions for other clients? For example, TV services. When could this happen?

– Orange Polska decided to activate inflation conditions for a very small number of customers – about 5,000 customers with contracts for access to the Internet and fixed packages for an indefinite period. We only increase prices by 4 percent. Although the Central Bureau of Statistics announced that the average annual inflation amounted to 14.4%. This means that the monthly subscription will be higher from PLN 2.40 to PLN 5.90. We started informing clients of the increase from the beginning of June. The new rates will apply from July 12th. This year we will not change prices for other customers due to inflation – Jabczyński explains in an interview with Wirtualnemedia.pl.

Orange is not the only operator that has decided to trigger inflation conditions. At the end of 2022, it will be presented by Vectra and its subsidiary Multimedia Polska. In the following months, it was decided to increase the fee. Prices increased by an average of 14.4%. In this case, the higher fees apply not only to new customers and to TV services.

On its site for the Wirtualnemedia.pl portal, the operator emphasized that “the valuation of fees corresponds to the provisions of contracts concluded with subscribers and results directly from the level of inflation determined by the average annual index of prices of consumer goods and services in 2022, provided by the Central Statistical Office “.

Pay TV operators want to increase fees

The case is being investigated by the Competition and Consumer Protection Office. It is not known if this will not end in a high monetary fine for the Vectra Group. The company claims to act according to the law and is allowed to do so, among other things. Jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

We recently reported dissatisfaction with organizations that connect pay-TV providers. They argue that inflation and the lack of mechanisms to compensate for it threaten, among other things, the quality of services and investments in infrastructure. They refer to research prepared by the Arthur D. Little Agency. It shows that revenue per subscriber (ARPU) in our country is among the lowest in Europe.

– We have created a more competitive and diversified telecommunications market in Poland, with the best price-quality ratio. As an industry, we see the need for an urgent dialogue with regulators to develop tools to operate in a high inflation environment that allows offerings to develop and consumers to be protected in a sustainable way. The market has built an artificial dam, given the full impact of rising costs, the lack of regulatory predictability is particularly painful for entrepreneurs in the current economic environment. – said Jerzy Strazewski, President of the Polish Chamber of Electronic Communications, Connecting Cable Networks.