Taking into consideration the fact that over 20 alternative operators have concluded interconnection with Romtelecom’s network, and that several complete fixed telephony services offers were launched, in April 2004 Romtelecom sent ANRC a new rebalancing request, in accordance with the ANRC letter of November, 2003. In November, in response to the operator’s request for a 66% increase in line rental tariffs, ANRC informed Romtelecom of its availability to approve a maximum increase of 10% in the line rental tariffs, under the condition to remove the remaining market entry barriers and to reduce the tariffs charged by Romtelecom for long-distance calls with at least 10%, as a consequence of the effects of competition on the market of national (long-distance) calls.
Thus, Romtelecom informed ANRC about its intention to reduce the tariffs for long-distance and international calls, increasing the tariffs for line rentals and local calls at the same time. ANRC considers the proposals to reduce the tariffs to be a sign of intensified competition, which justifies the approval of a new rebalancing phase.
The rebalancing proposal submitted by Romtelecom comprises: transition from a pulse-based charging system to a minute-based charging system, the extension of the off-peak period to the interval 20-08 (from 22-08 previously) from Monday to Friday, as well as to Saturday, Sunday and the legal holidays; the reduction in the tariffs for long-distance, international and fixed-to-mobile calls and the increase in the tariffs for line rentals, local calls, connections, special Internet access and public payphone calls.
| The main changed tariffs | |||
| Increase (average) | Reduction (average) | ||
| Subscriptions – natural persons | 8% | Long-distance calls (national) | 20% |
| Local Calls | 9% | Fixed-to-fixed international calls | 13% |
| Internet access | 9% | Fixed-to-mobile calls | 2% |
Also, ANRC approved the increase of the following tariffs: telephony line connections – with 24% (average), public payphones calls –49% (average), subscriptions – legal persons – 22%, line rentals and ISDN connections – 24%, directory services (931) – 140%, Evrikard cards –10% (average). The tariffs for fixed-to-mobile international calls are also reduced with 2%.