Portuguese Internet strike goes ahead

No more high call charges and poor service, say protesters

A 24-hour Internet boycott went ahead in Portugal yesterday, as users remained disconnected in protest over Portugal Telecom's "exorbitant" costs and "defective and slow service".

The action was supported by the country's two main trade union federations and the Communist Party. The move follows a boycott in Spain earlier this year which led the Spanish state telco, Telefonica, to make significant concessions on Internet dial-up call charges.

A boycott against Germany's Deutsche Telekom on 31 October was also heralded as success by its organiser, an Internet user-group called DarkBreed, though DK actually announced the introduction of cheaper tariffs for phone calls, designed to make dial-up Internet access less expensive, before the boycott began. DK claimed to have intended to make the price cuts anyway, but the timing of the announcement perhaps told a different story.

In the UK, British Telecom is to be targeted by two separate cyberstrikes. The first is set to take place on 13 December; the second, organised by the Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications, will take place next year as part of a concerted pan-European action. ®

See also

British Telecom threatened with two cyberstrikes
German Net boycott goes ahead