‘Sverdlovsk Region division of Federal Antimonopoly Service declared that Uralsvyazinform (one of the region’s leading landline and mobile communication providers) had violated the existing advertising law twice; the first offence had to do with the terms and regulations of carrying out promotion campaigns (Article 5, Part 3, Para 15); the second one was related to failing to produce the essential information on the kind of a prize offered for buying a particular product,’ Deputy Head of Sverdlovsk Region division of Federal Antimonopoly Service Sergey Volkov said to UrBC.

The whole thing began in March 2007 when Uralsvyazinform decided to carry out an advertising campaign that provided for a 1,000-ruble bonus for all the subscribers of Utel (Uralsvyazinform) who applied for an Internet connection with the company.

‘This advertising campaign falls into the promotion event category, as you have to buy a certain product or service in order to get the prize. Yet Uralsvyazinform’s ads never said that their customers had to spend these thousand rubles before the end of March 2007. One of these customers who did not use up the money prior to this deadline (because he had no idea he was actually supposed to) placed a complaint with the Service because he simply lost his bonus. Apart from that, the company never provided any explanation that this thousand-ruble bonus was offered not in the form of actual money but in the form of 1,000-ruble worth of megabytes that subscribers could download free of charge,’ Mr. Volkov noted. He said Uralsvyazinform would have to face an administrative suit and might have to pay a fine.