Itemised phone bills

Number of call types and prices are itemised on the phone bill

A telecommunications operator must always, without charge or request, provide itemised bills on the use of the subscription. According to law, the call types that must be itemised are, at least, the following:

• local calls and long-distance calls;
• international calls and mobile network calls;
• subscriber connection basic rates;
• SMS, picture messages and other messages;
• data transfer services.

The itemisation indicates the number of calls or messages and the total duration by call type. Often operators also itemise phone bills by the clock or operator. If you are entitled to a reduction, for example to a certain amount of free call time, it is usually shown on the bill in a separate row.

The itemisation includes received calls and text messages only if they have been charged for. Calls made to free-of-charge numbers and free text messages do not show on the itemisation.

Itemisation includes details concerning payment services and services at additional charges

Itemisation also includes details concerning the payment services and the services provided at additional charges that you have used. The itemisation is always included in the phone bill without a charge or a separate request. The itemisation does not contain details on free-of-charge services or such details that relate to privacy protection.

The phone bill must contain a complete itemisation with regard to the following services:

• payment services (e.g. drink and food vending machines, ordering tickets and parking ticket)
• short message services (e.g. songs, software, mobile games and votings intended for entertainment purposes)
• voice services (directory inquiry, ordering taxi, votings and quizzes intended for entertainment purposes)

With regard to the services that must be itemised completely, the itemisation must contain:

• the amount charged
• the time (date and time)
• the recipient (name and service number of the service provider)

The services that must be itemised per service type:

• short message services comparable to chat lines
• chat lines whose services contain communications related to privacy protection (e.g. premium rate advisory and expert services and spiritual services)

Call-specific itemisation on request

On request, your operator can provide you with a more detailed, connection-specific itemisation of other connections than of the chargeable connections itemised on the phone bill (e.g. normal calls and text messages).

With regard to each call, a connection-specific itemisation will give you information about

• the start time
• the duration
• the type of the call (e.g. voice call, text message, data transfer)
• the number to which the call has been made.

Received calls and text messages only appear in the connection-specific itemisation if they are subject to a charge.

The three last numbers of the telephone number are hidden in the connection-specific itemisation given to the subscriber (owner of the subscription). A complete itemisation can be given to the user of the service (holder of the subscription). However, the connection-specific itemisation must not either have any information about free services.