Para além do normal processo de consulta pública, o Projecto de Regulamento foi ainda objecto de análise atenta por parte dos serviços da Comissão Europeia tendo em conta o contexto particular de o leilão multifaixa estar incluído nas medidas previstas no Memorando de Entendimento (MoU) celebrado entre o Governo português e o Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI), o Banco Central Europeu (BCE) e a Comissão Europeia (CE). Nestes termos, as posições manifestadas pela Comissão Europeia (em 14/7, 29/7 e 9/9, e que se anexam ao presente relatório no Anexo II), tendo em conta o seu papel de acompanhamento da implementação das medidas previstas no MoU, influenciaram de maneira particular a elaboração da redacção final do Regulamento do Leilão.
De modo igualmente particular importa ter em conta a evolução sofrida no referido MoU já após o encerramento da consulta pública relativa ao Projecto de Regulamento, sendo que aquele refere agora o seguinte no que toca ao leilão:
“Telecommunications:
The Government will:
5.17. Facilitate market-entry by (…) launching the auction for the assignment of further radio frequencies (i.e. auction of spectrum) for broadband wireless access [Q4-2011]. In designing the spectrum auction rules, it will be ensured that they adhere to the legal principles of the EU framework and that potential new entrants are not placed at a competitive disadvantage. In particular, the auction tender will:
i. announce the commitment to an ex-post assessment, to be carried out by the regulator, of possible competitive distortions, covering the electronic communications mobile markets for which the spectrum is to be used as well as the commitment to, where justified and proportionate, the implementation of remedies to redress any resulting situation considered anti-competitive.
ii. include appropriate caps for strategic spectrum bands (under 1 GHz) which, while respecting the technological neutrality principle, facilitates an effective entry into the market avoiding that potential new entrants will face competitive disadvantages in terms of service quality and network costs.
iii. as a contribution to the enhancement of market competition, conditions for potential new operators to have access to national roaming will strike an effective balance between safeguarding the interests of current operators and those of potential new entrants. The regulator will adopt the necessary measures in order to enable potential new entrants to benefit from a level playing field as to the provision of high quality mobile broadband services.
This will be achieved namely by ensuring operators' obligation to negotiate fair and reasonable national roaming access, unless otherwise justified and proportionate.
iv. Auction pricing rules such as reserve prices and potential new entrant price discounts will take full account of the objective of facilitating market entry by creating a level playing field.
5.18. The Government will ensure the existence of an adequate monitoring and enforcement mechanism to guarantee the effective implementation of the obligations to negotiate fair and reasonable access to national roaming and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreements, ensuring timely access and reasonable prices. Such mechanism will be announced in the auction tender [Q4-2011].
5.19. The Government will review the current value of the fees on the use of frequencies to ensure that they are objectively justified, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate in relation to their intended purpose. Such review will be announced in the auction tender [Q4-2011]”.
A interpretação da concretização das medidas preconizadas no MoU tem sido feita pela CE, no âmbito do respectivo acompanhamento de execução, através de reuniões e troca de correspondência com o ICP-ANACOM, onde a CE tem relevado a necessidade de revisão de algumas das principais regras do Novo Projecto que daí decorrem.
