POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Xawery Konarski, Traple Konarski Podrecki & Partners
7.2 Service Agreements and Interconnection Agreements
• contract terms:
(a) notice period; (b) contractual penalties; (c) technical terms;
The contract for the provision of telecommunica - tions services should include, inter alia, elements such as: • type of service – a detailed description of the services provided (eg, internet access, mobile telephony, television); • technical parameters – information about the speed of the connection, available functions, data limits, etc; • duration of the service; • the level of charges – a detailed breakdown of all charges (subscription, additional charges, connection costs, etc); • operator’s obligations – to provide services in accordance with the contract, ensure avail - ability of services, provide information on changes to the offer; • obligations of the subscriber – paying for ser - vices on time, complying with the regulations, reporting faults; • subscriber rights – right to withdraw from a contract, right to complain, right to informa - tion about services; • method and time limit for making a complaint: (a) definition of how a subscriber may make a complaint; (b) time limit for filing a complaint; and (c) maximum time limit within which an op - erator should handle a complaint; and • protection of personal data and information covered by telecommunications secrecy. Key areas to look out for during telecommuni - cations contract negotiations are the following: • total cost – not only the monthly charges but also additional costs such as charges for international calls, SMS or out-of-country internet usage; and
(d) customer service (including availability of technical support, response time and forms of contact); (e) additional services (possibility to include additional services such as IP address, dedicated line or VPN services); (f) flexibility (possibility to change the con - tract); (g) scalability (the contract allows for easy increase or decrease of services). Key provisions of telecommunications intercon - nection agreements are the following: • precise definition of services – the agreement should clearly specify what services will be provided (eg, data, voice, video), including technical parameters (capacity, latency, avail - ability level); • interconnection points – the exact points of physical or logical connection between the two operators’ networks should be defined; • quality of service – the contract should contain detailed provisions on the quality of service provided, including the level of net - work availability, response time to failures and complaint procedures; • technical conditions and standards – the contract should specify the technical stand - ards to be used for the interconnection of the network (eg, protocols, data formats); • security – the contract should contain provi - sions on network security, including protec - tion against cyberattacks; • financial terms (including, but not limited to, price indexation);
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