1.1. ICP-ANACOM Regulatory activity in 2012

In this section, a review is made of the accomplishment of ICP-ANACOM's 2012 objectives, as regards the actions set out under the 2012-2014 Multi-Year Plan and the goals to which ICP-ANACOM is committed.

Through intensive activity, ICP-ANACOM has succeeded in improving its performance over the previous year, despite the difficulties stemming from application of the Economic Adjustment Programme for Portugal, which have impacted its operations, in terms of its activity over the year and in terms of its internal organization.

At a regulatory level, ICP-ANACOM's activity in 2012 contributed to the existence of open and competitive markets and focused on the following matters:

• The costing of call termination on individual mobile networks, with imposition of a maximum voice call termination price (1.27 eurocents per minute from 31 December 2012), which is based on the incremental long-term costing model associated with the provision of the service by an efficient operator ('pure' LRIC). This measure results from EC Recommendation 2009/396/EC of 07.05.2009.
   
• Quality of service provided under regulated wholesale offers, whereby PTC was ordered to amend the various reference offers which include fault repair deadlines, adjusting them to market needs.
   
• The conditions applicable to the LLRO and RELLO, with several determinations issued, e.g. a reduction in pricing and in maximum supply times for leased lines and fault repair, upgrading levels of service, as well as definition of additional obligations to govern the offer of Mainland - Azores - Madeira (CAM) circuits.
   
• The costing model for call termination on individual fixed networks, with an internationally published public tender held on the development and implementation of the respective model in accordance with EC Recommendation 2009/396/EC of 07.05.2009.
   
• Analysis of the results of the analytical accounting system (AAS) used by PTC, entailing the performance of audits covering the results of several years.
   
• Net costs of universal service (NCUS) of electronic communications, with audits carried out on the costs reported by the USP for the years 2007-2009 and consolidation of the methodology used to calculate the NCUS.
   
• Definition of the cost of capital rate to be applied by PTC and by CTT in the 2011 financial year, for the purposes of regulatory accounting.
   
• Preparatory work on the analysis of markets 4 and 5 was postponed to 2013, following presentation of a draft new Recommendation on measures of non-discrimination and costing systems.

In terms of radio spectrum management, ICP-ANACOM's strategic intervention in 2012 focused on the following major areas:

• Review of the NTFA and preparation and provision of the frequency information platform (e- NTFA) on ICP-ANACOM's website.
   
• Implementation of relevant European decisions on harmonisation of the radio spectrum with a view to the use of short-range devices (Decision 2011/829/EU, amending Decision 2006/771/EC) and on the harmonisation of the 24 GHz range radio spectrum band for the time-limited use by automotive short-range radar (SRR) equipment in the Community (Decision 2011/485/EU, amending Decision 2005/50/EC).
   
• The issue of unified titles of rights of use of frequencies for terrestrial electronic communications services to Optimus - Telecomunicações, S.A. (Optimus), TMN - Telecomunicações Móveis Nacionais, S.A. (TMN) and Vodafone Portugal - Comunicações Pessoais, S.A. (Vodafone), following the multi-band auction.
   
• Defence of national interests at the ITU's World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12), taking into account the preparation coordinated with various national entities.
   
• Conclusion of the switch-off of the analogue television signal on 26 April 2012, from when the television broadcasting service in Portugal became fully digital.

In 2012, ICP-ANACOM also adopted important measures to assure and protect the rights of users and citizens in general, particularly those relating to procedures for the termination of contracts governing the offer of public networks¹ or publicly available electronic communication services, upon the initiative of subscribers.

Oversight of the offers available on the market and analysis of complaints received indicated that there were problems with contract terminations, which caused difficulties for end-users when switching providers and prevented them from deriving full benefit from the range of offers on the market.

To correct the situation, ICP-ANACOM defined rules to govern procedures when contracts are terminated upon the initiative of subscribers, to minimize barriers to mobility and, thereby, ensure that end-users are able to derive maximum benefit from the range of choice on the market.

In the context of consumer protection, ICP-ANACOM records, analyses and responds to all complaints which it receives, seeking to resolve problems. ICP-ANACOM publishes regular reports on these complaints, as a means of contributing to increased competition by providing consumers with information about which operators are associated with the largest numbers of complaints - something that can be taken into consideration when subscribing to services - and encouraging providers to improve their performance.

With the strategic objective of working in partnership to develop the EU internal market, ICP-ANACOM maintained active participation in the EU at the level of regulation, participating in all meetings of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and in the European Regulators Group for Postal Services (ERGP), in order to discuss and develop various kinds of documents on issues of regulation. In its role of providing advice, ICP-ANACOM has been involved in supporting the definition and defence of national positions in the Telecom and Council Working Groups, and in the Communications Committee (COCOM).

ICP-ANACOM's active participation in all relevant forums working on regulation ensures that national interests are properly defended and that a greater contribution is made to the creation of the EU internal market.

Cooperation was another area where ICP-ANACOM was particularly active, promoting the exchange of knowledge and experiences with other regulators and international organizations, and disseminating and promoting the regulatory practices adopted in Portugal. Cooperation activities with regulatory authorities in other Portuguese-speaking countries remain particularly important.

In addition to cooperation within the EU, ICP-ANACOM also engaged in the following functions of international representation:

• Leading European coordination for the ITU World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), held in Dubai 3-14 December 2012, with the goal of reviewing the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR).
   
• Assuming the vice-presidency of the Euro-Mediterranean Regulators Group (EMERG), with a Contact Network meeting held in December, in Lisbon. In 2013 ICP-ANACOM will be taking over the presidency EMERG, pending the group's General Assembly, to be held in Lisbon.
   
• Assuming the functions of the secretariat of ARCTEL-CPLP - Associação de Reguladores de Comunicações e Telecomunicações da Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (Association of Communications and Telecommunications Regulators of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries), and making an important contribution to the development of the Association's new statutes.
   
• At the UPU Congress held in Qatar from 24 September to 15 October 2012.
   
• At Regulatel - Fórum Latino Americano das Entidades Reguladoras de Telecomunicações (Latin-American Forum of Telecommunications Regulatory Authorities), taking an active part in preparing amendments to the Forum's statutes and in the Forum's contacts with the EC, in coordination with ICP-ANACOM's Spanish counterpart - Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT), and with the presidency and executive secretary of Regulatel.

ICP-ANACOM also carried out a series of important enforcement and market monitoring actions during the year, which enabled it to detect and sanction inappropriate behaviour (with nearly 300 breach proceedings instigated), while compiling market information and know-how. This enables rigorous and reasoned decision-making, supporting the quality of regulation.

Internally, as it strives to improve efficiency, ICP-ANACOM has focused on the dematerialization of licensing procedures, which are now conducted more quickly electronically, offering the customer added convenience; it also strengthened the automation of procedures adopted with regard to spectrum monitoring.

As a result of wide-ranging efforts, ICP-ANACOM improved its performance in terms of the accomplishment of the actions set out in the 2012-2014 Strategic Plan. 78.3% of the 48 actions envisaged in this document were accomplished, compared to 76% of actions in 2011.

This level of accomplishment was also influenced by the need to undertake a large number of actions that were not foreseen when the 2012-2014 Plan was prepared - ICP-ANACOM plans its strategic actions from six to eighteen months in advance, with preparation of its plan for the year n+1 completed at the end of July of year n.

ICP-ANACOM was also called on to undertake a series of actions, which were unforeseen in the plan, as part of its responsibilities to provide advice to the Government. In 2012, this work involved a major mobilization of internal resources, which prevented some allocation to planned activities.

Of particular importance, in this context, was the work done to support the Government in the preparation and launch of the tender to designate the provider(s) of the US of electronic communications, supporting the tender panel and responding to requests for clarification during these tenders; ICP-ANACOM also supported the Government in the revocation of the universal electronic communications concession contract and in the design of the NCUS compensation mechanism. Likewise, ICP-ANACOM provided advice in the preparation of the public consultation to gauge the usefulness of maintaining provision, in the form of public service, of additional obligatory services which are included in the concession.

ICP-ANACOM also gave advice to the Government on the analysis of issues and monitoring the process of amending the Bases of the Concession of CTT, following the entry into force of the new Postal Law (Law no. 17/2012 of 26 April), and has cooperated in the implementation of European Directives and in the preparation of various legal documents, among other issues which will be reported in detail below.

Returning to ICP-ANACOM's regular activity, note should be made of the importance of its relationship with its various stakeholders: operators, service providers, consumer groups, consumers, other regulators, local authorities, universities and research centres, etc. These stakeholders are consulted before final decisions are taken, most often through public consultations and/or prior hearings, as the favoured means of sounding out the opinions and positions of the market's various participants.

In 2012, ICP-ANACOM submitted 28 draft decisions to public consultation; in 68% of these cases, the respective final decisions were adopted and published prior to the deadline specified in the Management Plan. This compares with 63% in the previous year.

ICP-ANACOM's Management Board met 55 times in 2012 and adopted 275 determinations, while, 15 opinions were prepared over the course of the year at the request of several entities.

During 2012, ICP-ANACOM received more than 57 thousand complaints, 24% more than in 2011, and it responded to almost all the complaints it received within the year and to some that were already being processed. With respect to the set of complaints received in previous years and throughout 2012, a completion rate of 126.3% was reported versus 83% reported in 2011. While most complaints were associated with electronic communications services, the increase reported in the quantity of complaints stems, in large part, from the DTT migration process and also results from growing awareness among consumers about their rights, increasingly demanding users and the massive proliferation of offers of products and services in the market.

In terms of oversight and enforcement, the 2012-2014 Multi-Year Plan provided for 962 market and operator actions in 2012, whereas 1293 actions were conducted in total. Electronic communications and ITED/ITUR were the areas covered by the highest proportion of actions. A total of 3 thousand enforcement actions were conducted, considering all ICP-ANACOM's areas of oversight, including sprectrum.

In the same period, the average time taken to allocate numbering resources was four working days in the case of value added services (VAS) and five days in the case of other numbers - values that are within the target of five working days set by ICP-ANACOM. The target for the maximum time to allocate these resources, as established by the law, is 15 working days. The maximum time observed was 13 working days in the case of VAS and 20 working days in the case of remaining numbers, corresponding to very specific situations.

In 2012, the number of days taken to license services was always within the set target.

Meanwhile, 297 breach proceedings were instigated in 2012 and 343 decided.

During the year, ICP-ANACOM was called on to intervene in five disputes between operators. Two of these cases were still under review as of 31 December 2012.