Around one hundred municipal officials in Vélez-Málaga, including some Local Police, had their mobile phones cut off for a period of five hours on Tuesday as a result of action by Telefónica-Movistar in relation to unpaid bills of €92,000.
Normal service was resumed after an agreement was reached between the Council and Telefónica-Movistar and the immediate payment of €27,000 to the company. It is not the first time that Telefónica-Movistar has threatened action in connection with unpaid mobile and landline bills.
The €92,000 relates to a six month period but the Council arrears for telephony stretches back about one year. Other municipal suppliers, some of whom are owed more than is the case with Telefónica-Movistar, are putting increasing pressure on the Council to pay its debts before a new legislature begins after the elections in May.
The Council attributes the non-payment of the Telefónica-Movistar bill to ‘communication problems’ which led to the company believing that the bill was being ignored and was not going to be paid.