Colombia. A total of 13,540 million Colombian pesos will have to pay the subscription television company Telmex, owned by the Mexican Carlos Slim, for irregularities committed with users by collecting fines that were not authorized.
According to the sanction issued by the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce of Colombia, the company charged a fine to its customers who wished to cancel the subscription television contract, on the grounds that they were violating the minimum permanence clause.
This situation dates back to the years 2009 and 2010, in which Telmex managed to generate a source of liquid resources thanks to sanctions and was even able to retain affiliates because many of those who tried to cancel the contract they had with the company gave up to avoid the fine.
For this reason, Telmex must pay the maximum applicable penalty, which reaches 12,000 million pesos, being the first time that a company in the sector receives such a sanction. In addition, it must return 1,541 million pesos to the then customers who were victims of the collections, a total of 10,916 people throughout the country.
The sanctioned company must inform by all available means what will be the mechanism it will use to return the money to its former customers, who will receive between 30,000 and 360,000 Colombian pesos according to the case.
Telmex said in a statement that it expects to be notified of the sanction to evaluate it and exercise its right to defense.
