On Wednesday, December 19, 2007, the National regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology (ANRCTI) sent a notification to the company “RCS&RDS” – S.A. whereby it informed the provider on its finding related to the provider’s failure to observe the obligation regarding the interconnection tariff the Authority imposed on it by the Decision no.2849/2007.
In the notification sent to RCS&RDS, ANRCTI grants to the provider a maximum term for amending all the interconnection agreements concluded by August 8, 2007 as regards the amount of the tariff charged for the interconnection service for the purpose of call termination at fixed locations on the network of RCS&RDS. The deadline by which RCS&RDS must prove the fulfilment of the obligations imposed is January 25, 2008. In the notification it is mentioned that “failure to comply with the conditions imposed by the regulatory authority […] represents a contravention and it is sanctioned with contraventional fine by up to 5% of the turnover”.
In august 2007, ANRCTI communicated to RCS&RDS the Decision no.2849/2007 whereby the company was obliged to charge a maximum tariff of 1.15 Eurocents/minute for the interconnection service for the purpose of fixed call termination, as well as to publish on its website certain information related to its access points, send ANRCTI a copy of each interconnection request and, respectively, of each of the requests for amending, completing or withdrawing the initial request, within 2 days from the date of receiving them. As well, ANRCTI imposed on the provider a maximum negotiation term for the conclusion of an interconnection agreement of 2 months from the date RCS&RDS receives a request in this regard.
In order to verify the compliance with the obligations imposed, ANRCTI repeatedly required RCS&RDS information on the tariff charged for the provision of the interconnection service for the purpose of fixed call termination, information on the steps taken in order to apply the interconnection tariff, as well as the requests received from the providers with whom the company had concluded interconnection agreements before the date the decision was issued.
During the last months, ANRCTI received complaints from several providers of telephone services regarding the refusal of the company RCS&RDS to modify the interconnection tariff and the charge of a tariff exceeding 1.15 Eurocents/minute. Furthermore, upon ANRCTI’s request, RCS&RDS was not able to make the proof that it carried negotiations with other operators concerning the amendment of the interconnection agreements.
“We will sanction RCS&RDS with a contraventional fine by up to 5% of the turnover if, by January 25, 2008, it does not take all the necessary steps in order to amend the interconnection agreements concluded with the other operators and does not charge the tariff imposed by ANRCTI for call termination services on its own network”, declared Dan Georgescu, the President of ANRCTI.
In September 2007, ANRCTI sanctioned RCS&RDS for failure to comply with the obligations imposed by the decision no.2849/2007 with a contraventional fine of RON 100,000 because it did not publish comprehensively on its website the number and addresses of all switches where interconnection with the public telephone network it operates can be achieved.