RomTelecom decided that value-added services (from erotic lines to competitions and horoscopes) would no longer be accessed on a direct line, but through a prepaid card, Evrikard, which will be available on the market starting with February 1, 2002.
Consequently, RomTelecom decided to block the access of all clients to the numbers of the 89... type.
The above-mentioned decision comes several years after many people, protected by anonymity, made the magic calls to 89.89..., forgetting that value-added services are more expensive than regular services. The shock came with the telephone bill, when the culprits refused to pay the bill for their own telephone.
Sometimes, they were not even the ones that had dialed the respective numbers. In fact, many such bills were never paid, so that RomTelecom incurred damages.
To put an end to these occurrences, starting with February 1, RomTelecom customers will only be able to access value-added services through their card or if the telephone line owner files an individual application for open access to value-added services.
The card contains a code, which is dialed before calling 89... numbers.
Although the measure may seem restrictive at first sight, because it confines access to value-added services, it provides subscribers with a new opportunity, since they can also use the card from phones other than their own.
RomTelecom representatives claim this change is rather a gain instead of a loss, but companies operating on the 89... lines do not share this opinion. Some of these firms are already operating layoffs, while the others are predicting their end, since their time has gone.
After the 1996 boom, when the biggest such bill amounted to 45 million ROL, people gradually lost interest, so that the market barely stands at 300,000 dollars now, according to certain sources in the field. It was expected that advertising should decrease together with the volume of services.
These companies spent almost 30 million dollars promoting telephone services last year, according to a Gfk survey. Cluj-based company Oldan Press, which operates in this field, fired its 12 operators two weeks ago.
"We only offer registered services now," said the company's manager, Bogdan Potra. He made the decision to fire the operators after RomTelecom heralded plans to launch cards for access to these services.
"We received the fax from RomTelecom last month and I thought it was better to fire them now, instead of Christmas or New Year's. At least they have time to find another job. No one will buy cards to call the erotic lines and the business wasn't doing so great, anyway," the owner says.
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