The National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC) decided to extend the public consultation period on the Draft Decision regarding the principles and prerequisites of the reference offer for unbundled access to local loop. The consultation period, which started on October 2, 2003, is prolonged until November 20, 2003.
As this draft is of major importance to the evolution of the agreements for the provision of unbundled access to the local loop, and upon the operators’ requests, the Authority considered appropriate to extend the consultation period. This measure will offer those interested the opportunity to study in detail the draft’s provisions. ANRC is confident that both the operators’ contribution, who will value the business opportunities raised from the unbundled access to the local loop, and the position of the operators with significant power on this market are essential factors in the conclusion of the present draft. During the following period, ANRC will invite representatives of the industry to take part in interactive consultation reunions, during which they can inform the ANRC specialists on their opinions regarding this draft decision.
According to this draft decision, S.C. Romtelecom S.A., the operator designated as having significant power on the market for the provision of total or shared unbundled access to the twisted metallic pair local loop, for the purpose of providing broadband Internet access services and publicly available telephone services at fixed locations, has the obligation to provide unbundled access to the local loop, under non-discriminatory conditions, to all the networks operators or electronic communications providers that require it. Also, the operator shall publish a reference offer that includes a minimum set of local loop access services, as well as the tariffs and conditions under which these tariffs are provided.
While elaborating this draft, ANRC intended to balance two extremely important objectives: to facilitate the rapid entry of new providers and to encourage the infrastructure investments (to build new access networks and to develop the present ones). The access of the end users to broadband electronic communications networks and especially broadband Internet access services was also taken into consideration as one of the major advantages of unbundled access to the local loop.
The document is available for the public on ANRC Internet page. Comments can be sent to ANRC by mail, at its Headquarters (14 Libertatii Blvd., sector 5, Bucharest), by fax at number: +40 21 307.54.02, or by e-mail at the address consultare@anrc.ro.