The Telecommunications Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld) has said he wants to get rid of the social mobile phone tariff. 18,300 Belgians currently benefit from this tariff, to help reduce their mobile phone bill. They are mainly job seekers (who get benefits from the CPAS), disabled people, and vulnerable pensioners over 65 living on their own, the Sudpresse papers revealed on Thursday. Alexander De Croo originally said he wanted to modernize the system. However, on Tuesday he said there was “no place for a social tariff” during a Chamber Commission meeting.
This is a victory for operators like Mobistar and Base, who contested this government financing. “Mobile phone tariffs are already low, and the “meilleurtarif.be” comparison site sometimes offers tariffs that are lower than the social tariff”, the Minister said.
(Source: Belga)
