Why can't the community broadband service be used independently?
Recently, a letter from Mr. Liang, a reader from Longkou City, Shandong Province, reported that after moving into a local community in November last year, he found that the broadband network at home was very unstable and often dropped. "At 9 or 10 o’clock in the evening, let alone videos, web pages Can't open".
Many repairs were unsuccessful. The property staff explained that it was the peak of the Internet at night.
Mr. Liang immediately proposed to change other operators. The property staff said that the community can only purchase broadband services designated by the property company and cannot choose independently.
Mr. Liang was even more puzzled: "I heard the broadband maintenance staff say before that the signals of China Mobile and China Unicom have been stationed in our community. Why can't I choose?"
After receiving the letter, the reporter called the community property.
The staff responded that the community has been using a network operator originally designated by the developer. Currently, the property company is actively connecting with other network operators, striving for them to settle in as soon as possible for residents to choose.
This situation is not an isolated case. Many readers reported similar situations to the readers' letter of this newspaper and the "Leadership Message Board" of People's Daily Online.
Mr. Zhang, a reader who lives in a community in Puyang City, Henan Province, introduced that when he applied for broadband installation, he was told by the property that the community could only install broadband from a designated company.
Why can't the community broadband service be used independently?
"Mainly because of costs. In order to save the communication construction costs of the community, real estate developers often find a third-party company to lay the network communication line for the community, and will not pay the construction fee. If the third-party company wants to recover the cost, it has to Collect the'entry fee' from broadband operators." An industry insider who has been working in a communications operation company for a long time told reporters that generally the first operator to settle in will sign a service agreement with a third-party company, and the latter may have 10%-20 % Share.
Operators that subsequently move in must pay a certain amount of entry fees to third-party companies.
The reporter's investigation learned that because the network operator's line can only be connected to the gate of the community, the line for entering the home must use the existing inside the community, so the operator can only use a third-party company to enter the community.
An operator who has a good relationship with a developer or a third-party company will be able to settle in and even obtain "exclusive agency rights" as soon as possible.
Some residential residents have encountered the situation of "only one broadband service". How should they be resolved?
The reporter interviewed relevant legal persons.
"Developers transfer the communication infrastructure construction costs that they should bear to third-party companies, and third-party companies bear the costs and then pass them on to operators and ordinary users, resulting in monopolistic behavior. Broadband monopolies violate fairness in the market economy. Principles of competition, suspected of violating the anti-monopoly law, anti-unfair competition law and other legal provisions." Gao Yinfu, a lawyer of Henan Bofeng Law Firm, suggested that relevant departments carry out joint enforcement activities to deal with developers, property service companies, and property service companies with broadband monopoly problems. Third-party companies shall be punished according to law.
Wang Liming, vice president of the Jilin Lawyers Association, said that relevant laws and regulations have long made it clear that "exclusive monopoly agreement" (broadband monopoly) is illegal.
"After signing an exclusive agreement with a specific operator, the property companies in some communities will deliberately increase the'entry fee' so that other operators will retire. This behavior will expose residents to high fees and speed restrictions, which will directly harm They have the right to choose a network operator.” He suggested that when residents in the community encounter such problems, they can complain to developers and property companies in accordance with the law.
Relevant regulatory agencies should also unblock channels for consumer rights protection, strengthen supervision and law enforcement, and respond to concerns and solve problems in a timely manner.
People's Daily Online reporter Tang Jiayi Shen Zhiyuan