Disruption and Temporary Unavailability of Electronic Communications Services
The telecommunications or electronic communications service contract implies, by its very nature, reciprocity in the rights and obligations of the parties.
The main obligation of the subscriber is to use the services as a prudent, reasonable person and to pay the invoices according to the terms defined by the operator.
For its part, the operator undertakes to provide all the care of a prudent, reasonable person with a view to providing access to one or more electronic communications services and ensuring their proper functioning.
The Office of the Ombudsman for Telecommunications regularly receives complaints relating to temporary unavailability of service(s) resulting from disruptions or malfunctions.
In 2023, 3,983 complaints concerning disruptions were lodged, i.e. more than double the number of complaints received in 2022 (1,686). These complaints concern one or more services in the case of bundles: Internet, television, mobile telephony and fixed telephony. Finally, there are complaints about breakdowns and disruptions due to maintenance or development work undertaken by operators. The main operators concerned are, in descending order: Telenet and Proximus and, to a lesser extent, Orange and Scarlet.
In the event of malfunction, disruption or unavailability of services due to maintenance or development work of the network or infrastructure, it is therefore the responsibility of the operator to restore the services as soon as possible and thus guarantee their continuity. Even in cases of force majeure, the intervention of the operator should always be within the limits of a reasonable period of time.
This due diligence requirement addresses the main and primary concerns of subscribers. Indeed, given the increasing digitalisation of society, any disruption or unavailability of services is likely to hinder the private, social or professional activities of subscribers.
Moreover, the handling of the disruption implies that operators are proactive. Thus, in the event of a disruption, they should be able to offer alternative devices at no additional cost to the subscribers concerned.
Any malfunction, disruption or unavailability of services is a failure attributable to the operator and thus justifying not only the automatic reimbursement of the fee for the period of unavailability but also the obtaining of compensation for the inconvenience.
To this end, the subscriber has various legal means or remedies defined in particular in the old Civil Code and in the Act of 13 June 2005 on electronic communications.
The provision of telecommunications or electronic communications services is nowadays an essential need, of almost general interest, hence the need to define rules on the conditions for the permanence and availability of services and on the penalties applicable in the event of a failure of the operators.