Today, November 16, 2004, the President of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications, Ion Smeeianu, delivered a speech in the opening session of the Cable Communications Convention, emphasizing the importance of the ANRC role in fostering an appropriate environment for the communications services, which allowed for the operators to offer their clients a wide range of services.
On this occasion, the ANRC President released the preliminary data on the consolidated situation of the requests received by the universal service providers with a view to granting subsidies and facilities in case of non-payment of the telephone bill.
The number of requests received by the universal service providers reached 500,000. Based on all the consolidated situations received until November 16, ANRC shall establish the amount of the subsidy within 15 days. The subsidy shall be calculated dividing a 35% quota from the universal service fund, allotted for subsidies, by the number of the requests that fulfil the eligibility criteria. The amount of the subsidy shall not exceed the value of the monthly subscriptions without credit, corresponding to the period between the decision on the designation of universal service providers and December 31, 2004, i.e. for the current year the amount of the subsidy shall be calculated for the period September – December. Upon the preliminary calculations, the amount of the individual subsidy is estimated to reach approximately 10 Euro.
The subsidy shall be discounted from the subscriber’s invoice, starting with the first invoice issued by the universal service provider after ANRC shall have communicated the universal service providers the amount of the individual subsidy. In case the subsidy exceeds the amount of the first invoice, the difference shall be operated correspondingly in the invoices of the following months, up to the discount of the whole subsidy.