OXFORD, United Kingdom-Subscribers to the Czech cell-phone operator RadioMobil are being invited to boycott the network for one day following the company’s announcement that it plans to raise prices. Organizers of the boycott, who have established at least two Web sites detailing their complaints, claim to have already obtained support from several thousand RadioMobil users.
The center of this issue apparently stems from RadioMobil’s decision to charge fees for text messages sent via its short message service (SMS) gateway. The company has defended this move by requesting its dissatisfied users to compare its new pricing with the other Czech cell-phone operators.
“There is another operator providing cheaper prices, but you need to also compare the quality of the service and the customer base,” said Jiri Hajek, a RadioMobil spokesman. “We are not worried that RadioMobil will lose some of its 3.2 million customers to either of the two other Czech operators, Eurotel or Oskar, because of the rate increases.”
Local observers claim that RadioMobil is banking on the other operators to follow its example and also start to raise prices, thereby reducing the chance for greater churn within its customer base. Given the Czech cell-phone market is approaching saturation, operators are said to be looking for any mechanism to help turn the corner in a market of continuing price cuts.
