On October 10, 2002, Alexandrina Hirtan, Vicepresident of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC), attended the workshop on the liberalization of the Romanian electronic communications market, dedicated to companies in the private sector, organized as part of the Romanian Information Technology Initiative RITI dot-Gov project, financed by USAID. The workshop is the first in a series of several actions focused on supporting private companies in evaluating the possibilities of the liberalized electronic communications market, beginning with January 1, 2003. Several foreign experts, invited to this working session, presented the phenomena associated with the liberalization of the telecommunications market, from the stand point of other European states where such liberalization has already taken place.
During the workshop there were raised problems of important interest to the Romanian electronic communications operators, with respect to operation authorisations, collocation and means of access and interconnection. In their turn, the foreign experts presented the business opportunities on the liberalized market and expressed warnings regarding the problems likely to occurr starting January 1, 2003.
The Vicepresident of ANRC explained to the representatives of the electronic communications operators the internal and external conditions that lead to the establishment of ANRC and presented the medium term objectives and main directions of activity of this institution. By the end of this year ANRC will establish the rules to be observed by new operators entering the market, as well as the economic and technical regulations for maintaining competition on the new market. Two normative acts – for general authorizations – haver already been submitted to public consultation, and by the beginning of the next week other projects will be published on the ANRC Internet page (www.anrc.ro), regarding the identification of relevant markets, market analyses and offers for interconnection and collocation.
With respect to consumers’ protection, ANRC has the very important role of supporting the final user to choose the best offer and of providing information regarding user’s rights. For information purposes, the project for the Law on universal service and user’s rights regarding electronic communications networks and services suggests a comparative guide for tarriffs, to be published by ANRC on its own Internet page. "This guide is absolutely necessary for the users, because the period following the liberalization will be characterized by a huge diversity of tarriffs varying on distance and hours. It is possible that at certain moments users give up analysing offers, which will prevent them from making the best choice" declared Alexandrina Hirtan. Once the market is open, the first choosing criterion of the users will certainly be the tariff, and ANRC must also verify the quality of the services offered for these tarriffs. "We are sure that the operators will also help us, by developing self-regulating mechanisms concerning the quality of services, in order to ensure transparency and to gain consumers’ trust" said the ANRC Vicepresident.
On October 10, 2002, Alexandrina Hirtan, Vicepresident of the National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC), attended the workshop on the liberalization of the Romanian electronic communications market, dedicated to companies in the private sector, organized as part of the Romanian Information Technology Initiative RITI dot-Gov project, financed by USAID. The workshop is the first in a series of several actions focused on supporting private companies in evaluating the possibilities of the liberalized electronic communications market, beginning with January 1, 2003. Several foreign experts, invited to this working session, presented the phenomena associated with the liberalization of the telecommunications market, from the stand point of other European states where such liberalization has already taken place.
During the workshop there were raised problems of important interest to the Romanian electronic communications operators, with respect to operation authorisations, collocation and means of access and interconnection. In their turn, the foreign experts presented the business opportunities on the liberalized market and expressed warnings regarding the problems likely to occurr starting January 1, 2003.
The Vicepresident of ANRC explained to the representatives of the electronic communications operators the internal and external conditions that lead to the establishment of ANRC and presented the medium term objectives and main directions of activity of this institution. By the end of this year ANRC will establish the rules to be observed by new operators entering the market, as well as the economic and technical regulations for maintaining competition on the new market. Two normative acts – for general authorizations – haver already been submitted to public consultation, and by the beginning of the next week other projects will be published on the ANRC Internet page (www.anrc.ro), regarding the identification of relevant markets, market analyses and offers for interconnection and collocation.
With respect to consumers’ protection, ANRC has the very important role of supporting the final user to choose the best offer and of providing information regarding user’s rights. For information purposes, the project for the Law on universal service and user’s rights regarding electronic communications networks and services suggests a comparative guide for tarriffs, to be published by ANRC on its own Internet page. "This guide is absolutely necessary for the users, because the period following the liberalization will be characterized by a huge diversity of tarriffs varying on distance and hours. It is possible that at certain moments users give up analysing offers, which will prevent them from making the best choice" declared Alexandrina Hirtan. Once the market is open, the first choosing criterion of the users will certainly be the tariff, and ANRC must also verify the quality of the services offered for these tarriffs. "We are sure that the operators will also help us, by developing self-regulating mechanisms concerning the quality of services, in order to ensure transparency and to gain consumers’ trust" said the ANRC Vicepresident.