Czech surfers on strike over call charges

Czech Web surfers are planning to boycott the Internet in protest over planned rises in local call charges by the national phone operator, SPT Telecom. Protest action is also being planned in Poland against its government-run telco Telekomunkacja Polska S.A.

The Czech operator announced that it will increase local phone fees by around 25 per cent on 1 January. Hundreds of Web operators and more than 30,000 surfers have given their support to the strike and have posted a warning on the consequences to the operator, the Ministry of Finance and the Czech Telecommunications Authority.

The warning notice reads: "Prices for local Internet connection are already so high that they represent one of the greatest restraints of Internet development. Their further rise would endanger the entire Internet-related business sector, i.e. the professional group of Internet providers, content providers and last but not least, computing equipment and software manufacturers and resellers."

Robert Hall, competition and regulation analyst at Ovum, believes this kind of protest is likely to be effective in the Czech Republic and Poland. "There is a certain amount of sensitivity because deregulation is on the horizon," he said, adding that the protest contains an "embarrassment factor for the regulatory body and the operators".

Joachim Kubosch, assistant to European IT commissioner, Martin Bangemann, said although the two countries are heading towards an open and competitive market, "They need to build more infrastructure, so it will take more time. But it is in their interest to do it more quickly". He added that as long as there is no competition this is the only real way of bringing down prices.

The group suggests the Czech government should "take advantage of its controlling interest in SPT Telecom in order to protect the interests of its citizens".

Over the last month, Europe has seen a spate of Internet-orientated strikes. On 1 November, German Web surfers boycotted the Internet for 24 hours to protest against the high tariffs charged by Deutsche Telekom, while Spain's Telefonica has faced a similar revolt. In both cases, the telcos were forced to reconsider their local call charges.