Today, ANCOM and the representatives of the communications industry agreed on reviewing the regulations applicable to the market for the services of access to infrastructure elements and the procedure for the resolution of disputes within the competence of the Authority, as well as on the conditions of allocation and use of new categories of numbering resources.
ANCOM proposed a tariff of EUR 6.02/month for total access to the local loop, instead of the currently in force tariff – EUR 8.37/month, and a tariff of EUR 3.17/month for shared access, instead of the currently in force tariff – EUR 4.2/month, starting the first day of the month following the entry into force of the decision. From 1 January 2011, the tariff for the shared access to the local loop will decrease to EUR 2.14/month, whereas from 1 July 2011, it will drop to EUR 1.11/month. Following the request sent to S.C. Romtelecom S.A. to provide a new set of information on the costs associated to the equipment and to the works of laying ducts, ANCOM amended the tariffs submitted to consultation after previously having reanalysed and changed, where case required, the entry data from the model used for calculating the tariffs for the access to the local loop.
“The tariff for total access to the local loop agreed today is one of the most competitive in the European Union, ranking third after the tariffs in Poland and Estonia and below the EUR 8.55 European average. We expect that the operators use this regulation to launch broadband Internet services at advantageous tariffs for the users”, Catalin Marinescu, the President of ANCOM, stated on this occasion.
Moreover, ANCOM decided to maintain Romtelecom’s obligations regarding the provision of access to its own network, considering its 69% share on the relevant market for the services of access to infrastructure elements (including unbundled access to the local loop), the hard-to-replicate network it operates and the impossibility of the alternative providers to have access to sustainable alternative solutions at a national level (alternative access networks).
Furthermore, ANCOM decided that the introduction of certain additional ex ante regulations for the wholesale broadband access services is neither necessary nor justified given the high level of infrastructure-based competition (over the providers’ own access networks) in the retail market, the availability of the unbundled access to the local loop, as well as the positive impact expected to be achieved following the introduction of cost-oriented tariffs for access to the local loop.
ANCOM will notify the proposed set of measures to the European Commission and to the national regulatory authorities from the other EU Member States. The European Commission and the regulatory authorities will be able to send ANCOM their comments and observations within one month from the notification date.
As per the draft decision on establishing the dispute settlement procedure, ANCOM proposed a series of measures meant to meet the parties’ concrete needs, resulted during the settlement procedure, as well as to ensure that the disputes are settled within the maximum legal term, i.e. 4 months. To this end, ANCOM introduced clear terms for certain procedural acts, reduced certain procedural terms, purposefully regulated certain procedural institutions provided by the Code of Civil Procedure (e.g. postponement, suspension or termination of the dispute) and clarified the regime for confidential information and that for communicating the procedure acts.
Within today’s Consultative Council two decisions on numbering resources were also adopted: a decision on the allocation and use of the 19vx(y) national short numbers for services of public interest at national level and a decision which amends and completes the current regulatory framework, effective since September 2007. The two documents allow opening for allocation of the 19vx(y) national short numbers for services of public interest at national level, as well as the 7-digit short geographic numbers from the 02 domain for the provision of general interest services at local level.