ANRC Identifies, Together with the Industry, the Solutions for the Implementation of the Universal Service

During the today meeting of the Consultative Council, ANRC held discussions with the representatives of the electronic communications industry about the means to implement the universal service by installing telecentres and public pay telephones. The industry comments and recommendations on the draft Decision on the principles and prerequisites of the reference offer for the unbundled access to the local loop, as well as the amendments to the decision for the approval of the Regulation on the identification of the relevant markets within the electronic communications sector were also debated. The consultation on the two draft decisions represents the last stage before the adoption of the documents and the implementation of the respective provisions.

Selecting the best means to implement the universal service represents a decision with profound implications for the people in locations without access to the public telephone network or from other reasonable means of access to telephone services, as well as for the people in locations where the penetration rate of these services is extremely low. Thus, the Authority considers that the industry should be involved in an active manner in finding appropriate solutions to problems such as: the organization of tenders for the construction of telecentres and placement of public pay telephones; establishing the net cost of the construction and installation of a telecentre or a public pay telephone; the usefulness of involving the local authorities from the locations where access to telephone services will be ensured and, especially, the choice of the appropriate criteria for the selection of the locations where the implementation of universal service will start.

All the participants in the ANRC Consultative Council meeting today agreed on establishing a working sub-commission which will analyse the most efficient means for the implementation of the universal service, in order to create the conditions for extensive participation of the operators, as well as for the best use of the available universal service funds. The working sub-commission will meet on July 29, 2004, in order to shorten the stage that precedes the process of ensuring access to telephone services in the eligible locations. The existence of this sub-commission, which comprises representatives of the industry and of ANRC, aims to make sure that the solutions selected for the implementation of the universal service will minimise the net costs and it will define the criteria for the selection of the most efficient projects, for example the telephone services penetration rate, number of population, interest of local communities in the implementation of telecentres and the support they offer, existence of educational facilities, average income per inhabitant, etc.

Also, based on the comments forwarded by the operators during this meeting, ANRC will adopt the final version of the Decision on the principles and prerequisites of the reference offer for the unbundled access to the local loop, which is subsequently to be published in the Official Journal. There have been no objections to the draft decision on the completion of the ANRC President’s Decision for the approval of the Regulation on the identification of the relevant markets within the electronic communications sector, which is shortly to be published in the Official Journal in the form submitted to the Consultative Council.