Upon receiving the mass-media representatives’ requests for further information on certain issues on the regulation of the Romtelecom interconnection tariffs, ANRC makes the following clarifications:
Interconnection tariffs are the key to competition. Therefore, ANRC shall not jeopardize competition and the end-users’ interests for the sake of protecting one single operator.
This cut-down of interconnection tariffs results in cheaper calls, higher traffic and draws more subscribers to telephone services. The same cost-orienting regulations will be enforced on the mobile operators identified as having significant market power. Effective competition is beneficial for all the operators on the market, including Romtelecom, which is thus stimulated to render its activity more efficient and offer its users competitive services at adequate, cost-oriented tariffs. Romtelecom’s greatest discontent is the very fact that ANRC’s Decision provides for the development of competition, which may put Romtelecom under the pressure of making the necessary changes in order to speed up its process of becoming more efficient.
The tariffs established by ANRC allow Romtelecom to recover its interconnection costs, including a considerable profitability margin, which is one of the highest in Europe. Furthermore, according to the information provided to ANRC by Romtelecom, this decrease in the interconnection tariffs proves to have little impact on the overall income of this company, which will continue to register a high profit level.
As regards Romtelecom’s statement that ANRC imposed this company to charge tariffs below costs, we emphasize the fact that the interconnection tariffs imposed on Romtelecom are cost-oriented. These tariffs have been established as a result of a transparent consultation process between Romtelecom, ANRC and their consultants, following the 10 month-reconciliation of the cost calculation methods elaborated by ANRC and, respectively, by Romtelecom. Following the bilateral consultations and the reconciliation process, the resulting costing model has been repeatedly amended to include the comments and additional data provided by Romtelecom. Consequently, the interconnection tariffs cover Romtelecom’s costs.
ANRC will hold its stand in the Court of Law.