Court: “Tele2” must redirect “Bite” calls to number 1501 again – MadeinVilnius.lt

The telecommunications company “Tele2” must fulfill the contract according to which calls to the short number 1501 must be directed to the service center of the competitor “Bites”, the court ruled.

On April 23, the Court of Appeal annulled the December 2023 decision of the Vilnius District Court and recognized the companies’ August 2022 contract as valid and obliged Tele2 to fulfill it.

“The court of first instance incorrectly evaluated the negotiations (pre-contractual relations) of the parties and their result, therefore it made a mistake by stating that the contract was not concluded after all. (…) The elements of the contract that are sufficient for the validity of the contract are the agreement of the parties on the factors, and in cases established by law, the form of the contract,” the court decided.

The dispute arose due to the contract that began to be implemented on September 1, 2022, but was not signed by the manager of Tele2, according to which Tele2 customers’ calls to the number 1501 were forwarded to Bitei. On September 20 of the same year, “Tele2” informed “Bitė” that the number was deactivated by order of “Tele2” managers.

“Bitė” told the court that she had made an agreement with the “Tele2” employee about the service and could not have known that he could not do it. In addition, Tele2 had started providing the service.

“20 days after the beginning of the execution of the contract, the defendant decided not on the conclusion of the contract, but on its further execution and termination. The defendant (Tele2 – BNS) used the absence of her signature in the contract as a formal pretext for not fulfilling her contractual obligations,” Bitė told the court.

At that time, Tele2 argued to the court that Bitė should have known that the employee who negotiated the contract could not do so, because the Bitė employee who communicated with him previously worked in the same position at Tele2, and this was also stated in the contract.

“The content of the correspondence between the representatives of the parties, from which it can be seen that the representative of the defendant (Bites” – BNS) indicated that he was handing over the contract for signing, also confirms his lack of such a right,” Tele2 told the court.

“It is clear that the parties have agreed on all the essential terms of the contract – the nature of the services provided and the fee to be paid for it and the procedure for its payment,” the court decided.

Jaunius Špakauskas, the representative of Bitė, told BNS that Bitė has been using the phone number 1501 for more than 20 years, and Tele2’s actions are malicious.

“Today (Friday – BNS), another such tragicomic circumstance, such a dramatic defeat, let’s say, was revealed. Tele2 today (…) kindly informed us, in quotation marks, that the minute of this call (for Tele2 customers – BNS) will cost 30 cents. It is clear that this is not an unintentional act and they are simply, taking advantage of some loopholes in the contract, trying to sting the competitor through the price”, explained J. Špakauskas.

“It is difficult to explain such absolutely malicious behavior of Tele2,” he added.

According to the court order, the companies had agreed on a rate of 12 cents per minute in the original agreement.

Tele2’s public relations manager Asta Buitkutė told BNS that the company did not cancel the possibility for “Bite” to use the number – “Bite” could continue to serve its customers by phone. Using a short number to call another network’s operator is a fairly common practice, she said, but it uses a different series that starts with the numbers 18.

She added that the company was not obliged to allow calls to the number 1501 from Tele2 – this was clarified by the responsible authorities: “Moreover, the contract with “Bite” was never signed.”

According to Tele2, the Communications Regulatory Authority has clarified that the series of short numbers with the first numbers 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 can be used by operators at their discretion, while 15 usually starts with numbers intended to serve their customers.

“For example, customers of other operators can call Tele2 at 1885 or +370 684 00 117; you can call “Telia” at the number 1817, etc., said A. Buitkutė.

“We proposed to Bitei to start negotiations on the use of another short communication number, but we did not receive a response to the proposal. Such a reaction from our competitor and the pressure to sign the contract raises a lot of questions,” she added.

The author is Goda Vileikytė

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