On Monday, December 22, 2003, the National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC) communicated Romtelecom its decision to not approve the request to increase the tariffs for line rental with 2 Euro that the operator submitted at the end of November.
Based on the analysis of the additional information provided by S.C. Romtelecom S.A., ANRC decided that the data is not complete or verifiable, and in conclusion cannot represent the basis for changing the position initially expressed by ANRC.
At the beginning of November 2003, ANRC rejected Romtelecom’s request to increase with 2 Euro the tariffs charged for line rental, but informed the company about availability to agree on a new rebalancing phase, in which line rental tariffs could increase by a maximum of 10%, in case the operator ensures, on one hand, the elimination of barriers to market entry as a prerequisite for the development of effective competition on the long-distance and international fixed telephone services markets and, on the other hand, if it reduced the tariffs charged for long-distance calls by at least 10%, as proof of the effects of competition on the market of national (long-distance) calls.
Also, ANRC communicated to Romtelecom its position as regards the company’s request to increase the retail tariffs for the calls originated in its network and terminated in other fixed public networks. The tariffs Romtelecom will charge for these services are:
| Service | Tariff (eurocent/minute) | |
| Peak hours | Off peak hours | |
| Local calls to other fixed public networks | 4.92 | 4.53 |
The tariffs for long-distance calls originated in the Romtelecom network and terminated in other fixed public networks will not change, but will remain at the level previously approved by ANRC and communicated to Romtelecom on September 2, 2003.
| Service | Tariff (eurocent/minute) | |
| Peak hours | Off peak hours | |
| Long-distance calls to other fixed public networks | 6.68 | 5.01 |
ANRC communicated Romtelecom its approval on the tariffs presented above, but also underlined its availability to analyse and approve a possible request from Romtelecom regarding the increase of the retail tariffs for calls originated in its own network and terminated in other fixed public networks, in case certain operators, during the negotiation of the interconnection agreements, request termination tariffs in their network higher than those resulted by applying the principle of reciprocity.
According to the provisions of Law no.304/2003 for the universal service and the users’ rights regarding the electronic communications networks and services, Romtelecom has the obligation to inform the end users about its intention to change these tariffs at least 30 days before operating the changes. The same law provides that Romtelecom has to request ANRC’s approval with respect to any modification of the retail tariffs.