“Today we have submitted to public consultation the draft decision regarding the interconnection with the public telephony network operated by S.C. RCS & RDS – S.A. for the purpose of call termination at fixed locations, whereby ANRCTI intends to impose on this company a set of obligations related to the negotiation, conditions and enforcement of the interconnection agreements with other operators. The respective obligations envisage the publication of the tariffs and addresses of the switchers where interconnection can be realized, the provision of services and the granting of access to the facilities necessary for the interconnection, with specific terms for the completion of the negotiations and the implementation of the contracts, as well as the imposition of a maximum call termination tariff in RCS & RDS network”, Dan Georgescu, the President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology, has announced today.
The adoption of this decision is necessary because of the great number of notifications received by ANRCTI from certain providers of electronic communications networks and services, which drew the Authority’s attention on the serious problems they had to face when negotiating and concluding certain interconnection agreements with the public fixed telephony network of RCS & RDS. Also, ANRCTI received a manifold of complaints from end-users which claimed that they were not able neither to initiate nor to receive calls from the users of the RCS & RDS network.
According to the draft decision, RCS & RDS shall be obliged to publish on its website certain information related to its access points, as well as to the tariffs charged for all the services and facilities associated to the interconnection. As regards the conclusion of an interconnection agreement, the maximum negotiation term shall be 2 months from receiving a request in this regard by RCS & RDS, whereas the maximum term for the implementation of the interconnection agreement shall be 3 months from concluding the agreements.
Concerning the interconnection requests transmitted to RCS & RDS by June 20, 2007, the maximum negotiation term shall be 15 days from the decision communication date. The tariff charged by RCS & RDS for the provision of the interconnection service for the purpose of call termination at fixed locations shall not exceed the value of 1.15 Eurocents/minute, excluding VAT.
The respective decision is based on the provisions under art.5 of the Government Ordinance no.34/2002 and is to be adopted following the national public consultations and after notifying the European Union and the other regulatory authorities from the Member States, provided under arts. 341 and 50 of the Government Emergency Ordinance no.79/2002.
The draft decision may be consulted on ANRCTI’s website. All the interested persons are invited to formulate and transmit their comments and propositions by July 23, 2007, at the headquarters of ANRCTI in 14 Liberty Blvd, Bucharest 5 or directly to the ANRCTI Registration Division, as well as to the territorial offices located in the closest municipality residence. The comments may be also transmitted by fax to the fax number+40.21.307.54.02 or by e-mail to the website address consultare@anrcti.ro.
Today, ANRCTI has notified the European Commission and the other regulatory authorities from the Member States on the draft decision. The notified bodies shall transmit their comments and observations until July 23, 2007. ANRCTI shall take into consideration the respective comments and observations when adopting the decision. Once adopted, ANRCTI shall communicate the decision to the European Union.
In its activity, ANRCTI pursues to ensure the effective competition on the electronic communications market, taking all the necessary measures in order to prevent the abusive behaviour of the operators which control the access to the end-users with a view to ensure end-to-end connectivity.