PT Comunicações, S.A. (PTC) has been providing the universal service of i) Connection to a public communications network at a fixed location and provision of a publicly available telephone service through said connection, ii) provision of a comprehensive directory and of a comprehensive telephone directory enquiry service, and iii) provision of public pay-telephones.
In accordance with article 95 of the LCE - Lei das Comunicações Eletrónicas (Electronic Communications Law)1, where the NRA considers that the provision of universal service may represent an unfair burden on the respective providers, it shall calculate the CLSU - custos líquidos das obrigações de serviço universal (net costs of the universal service obligations) in accordance with one of the following procedures:
a) Calculating the CLSU, taking into account any market benefit which accrues to the providers;
b) Making use of the CLSU identified by a designation mechanism in accordance with the provisions of the LCE.
It is also set out in paragraph 4 of article 96 of the LCE that the universal service provider shall make available all accounts and other relevant information in order to provide a basis for the calculation of the CLSU, which accounts and information shall be audited by the NRA or a body independent of the interested parties and subsequently approved by the NRA. It is also set out in paragraph 5 of the same article that the NRA shall make the results of the cost calculation and the conclusions of the audit publicly available.
The present decision seeks, therefore, to determine the final values of the CLSU, calculated in accordance with paragraph a) of article 95 of the LCE and in compliance with the provisions of article 96 of the same law.
1 Law no. 5/2004 of 10 February, as amended and republished by Law no. 51/2011 of 13 September.
