Free-market pirates
The poor services offered by several private telecommunication companies that compete with OTE state telecom have created problems for some 800,000 households across Greece. The problems can often be attributed to the immaturity of the local market but, unfortunately, more often seem to derive from the dubious tactics by certain companies to advertise services they cannot provide for in a credible manner. Greek consumers are not interested in the reasons behind their distress. They only want these problems to go away – and rightly so. One hopes that the responsible authorities, including the Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT), the general consumer secretariat and the consumer ombudsman will live up to their duties and take measures to punish any opportunistic firms that seek to exploit the deregulation of the market by creating problems for consumers.
