According to the turnover of the communications services and public networks providers who notified to ANRC the beginning of their activity until the end of March, the turnover of the electronic communications services and public networks providers exceeds €1.8 billion and that of the postal services providers is near €174 million. The National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC) set out the monitoring tariff for the electronic communications services and networks providers to 0.2% of the total turnover for the year 2002.
On grounds of Government Emergency Ordinance no.79/2002 on the general regulatory framework for communications, among the main attributions of ANRC are the surveillance of the Romanian communications market and the monitoring of the observance of the legislation in force by the market players. The monitoring tariff charged to the operators on the electronic communications market is set out, based on the expenditures estimated by ANRC for the current year, as a percentage which can be up to 0.5% of the total turnover of each provider, declared for the previous year. For the postal services providers, the tariff is established by law and represents 0.1% of the turnover of each postal services provider for the previous year.
For the year 2003, ANRC set out the monitoring tariff for the electronic communications services and networks providers to 0.207373556% of the total turnover for year 2002. This percentage will be communicated to the operators and they will make the payment in two equal instalments. The companies bound to pay the monitoring tariff for the year 2003 are those that have notified to ANRC on initiating the provision of electronic communications services and networks until the end of March and had the obligation to submit the annual financial statements to the Ministry for Public Finances, until this date, on grounds of the accounting legislation in force.
504 companies fulfil the conditions above. Among these, 30 companies will not pay the monitoring tariff, as they declared a turnover equal to zero. The data received by ANRC from these 504 companies so far indicate a total turnover of €1.830 billion (ROL 69 thousand of billion). This figure does not cover the communications networks designing and construction activities, the communications equipments and software production, or commercialization activities. Also the provision of electronic communications services and private networks is not included in this calculation.
The 67 postal services providers bound to pay the monitoring tariff for the current year declared for the year 2002 a turnover of €174 million (ROL 6500 billion).
ANRC started its activity during the fall of 2002, following the adoption of the national law harmonized with the new European regulatory framework for communications. Beside the market surveillance activity, the scope of ANRC activities also comprised the ensuring of a new authorization regime for those who intend to provide electronic communications services or postal services.
“One of the advantages of the new regulatory framework is that the authorisation and the numbering licences are granted for free. The National Regulatory Authority for Communications does not charge any tariff either for the authorisation of the communications companies, nor for the submission of notifications, nor for issuing the standard certificate that confirms the authorisation. ANRC does not charge tariffs for granting licences for the use of numbering resources and for granting licences for the postal services providers within the scope of the universal service. The authorisation regime being granted for free and the charging of an unique monitoring tariff together represent an important step made by the National Regulatory Authority for Communications in order to stimulate the entry on the market of new operators and in order to encourage competition, to support the development of activities by eliminating the excessive financial burdens, so that the providers can offer affordable products and services to the end users,” declared ANRC President, Ion Smeeianu.