Bulgaria Court Upholds 'SMS Text Fine' of Mobile Operator Globul

Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court has confirmed a BGN 150 000 fine of the country’s second largest mobile operator Globul.

Globul had taken to court the decision of the Competition Protection Commission from December 2008 to fine it over the promotional "100 by 100" game.

With the game, Globul has sought to boost their SMS service as participation includes sending at least two text messages costing BGN 2.40, thus giving the participant the option to enter the draw for several Mercedes Benz automobiles.

The Commission's analysis has revealed that the value of each prize in the game was much over the threshold provided by the law i.e. 10 minimal monthly salaries or 100 times the value of the services offered - in this case the SMS.

In addition, the Commission has found that the game's psychological effect interfered with real demand in that market segment and was not determined by the service itself but by the gambling possibility of winning a prize.

In its ruling on Thursday, Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court states that “the rules of the game create conditions for distorting the economic behavior of the consumers with respect to provided service by making the decision on whether to pay for the service dependent on the ill-advised influence of a person’s inclination to risk participating in games with material awards.”

“This is a dishonest commercial approach leading to violation of the very point of competition – providing more high-quality services at competitive prices,” states the ruling to the Court which cannot be appealed.

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