More than 40 million consumers using Oi’s telephony services will be transferred to a new operator in the coming months. Customers will be divided between Tim, Vivo and Claro, which had the purchase of the operator’s cellular networks approved this Wednesday (9), for R$ 16.5 billion.
The migration will be done gradually and the destination company will be defined by region, that is, according to the area code of each line (see full list below). However, no customer will be obliged to stay with the defined operator, and will be able to choose the portability destination without a fine or loyalty requirement.
In a first step, companies will have to send a notice to consumers about the transfer. If they do not accept, the telecoms will have to migrate them to the desired company. Until then, the customer will continue to be served by Oi.
Claro is the operator that will inherit the most customers (15 million), followed by Tim (14.5 million) and Vivo (10.5 million).
According to an opinion from Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense), the division of Oi’s lines was based on the size of the operator in each region. The company that has the lowest market share in the area of DDD will receive the contracts.
On January 31, Anatel (Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações) determined that buyers should adopt a series of measures in order to preserve consumer rights during migration.
The first of these is the guarantee of the right of portability at any time. Operators must also segregate mobile telephony contracts that are part of Oi’s Combo contracts in a transparent manner and communicated in advance.
In addition, Anatel prohibited the automatic migration of any contractual loyalty of Oi’s customer or the imposition of loyalty in the adhesion to a new plan. Finally, the agency also determined the absence of collection due to breach of loyalty contracts of mobile telephony users or Oi Combo.
Ricardo Moraes, a partner at Silveiro Advogados, says that consumers were all the time in the focus of the discussions that involved the purchase of Oi.
According to him, all protections, regulations and regulations continue to serve to protect customers, even in a migration scenario.
“Of course, if any abuse, violation or illegality occurs, this can be subjected to traditional sanctions, either within the scope of Anatel or in the consumer protection system”, he says.
Moraes says that the fact that the contracts are being taken over by other companies does not change their mandatory execution. Characteristics and conditions of the current package, for example, must continue to be observed in the new operator.
“The consumer cannot see himself in a worse condition than the current contract”, he says.
What can happen, according to him, is that the new operator does not have a plan exactly the same as the one contracted at Oi. In this case, he says, at least another plan with better conditions should be offered – but keeping the same prices, validity and package values.
“This is an acquisition scenario after extensive discussion with Anatel and with Cade, including the imposition of remedies. Compared to the alternative scenario [falência da Oi]it brings greater protection to the market, to the sector as a whole and to consumers”, he says.
How will the migration of Oi customers be?
Who goes to Claro?
DDD customers 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 27, 28, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 71, 74, 77, 79 , 87, 91, 92
Who goes to Vivo?
Customers of DDDs 12, 41, 42, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 98
Who goes to TIM?
DDD customers 11, 16, 19, 21, 22, 24, 32, 51, 53, 54, 55, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 73, 75, 89, 93 , 94, 95, 96, 97, 99
Will I be served by which operator while I am not transferred?
Each operator will migrate new customers and notify, one by one, when this procedure will take place. Until then, Oi will continue to provide the service.
I don’t want to migrate, how to do it?
No customer will be obliged to stay with the operator defined by Anatel after the division of Oi, he will be able to choose which company he will carry out the portability to.
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