ANACOM approves draft amendment to the Regulation on provision of statistical information

On 17 January 2023, ANACOM approved the draft to amend Regulation no. 255/2017https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1415433 of 16 May on the provision of statistical information.

Regulation no. 255/2017 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1415433on the provision of statistical information, applicable to undertakings providing electronic communication services and networks, was published with the aim of defining a set of information which allows monitoring of the various markets and services and of compliance with provider obligations, the definition of relevant markets and assessment of significant market power, as well as fulfilment of ANACOM’s other assignments.

Taking into account the development dynamics that have occurred since the entry into force of the Regulation in 2017 in the electronic communications sector, the market and in terms of available technologies, ANACOM considered that it was time that the Regulation be amended.

In this context and following an analysis of the contributions received within the scope of the commencement of the regulatory procedure, ANACOM has prepared the present draft amendment to the regulation on the provision of statistical information.

The draft amendment to the Regulation therefore brings requests for statistical information made by ANACOM outside the scope of Regulation no. 255/2017 of 16 May within the scope of the present proposal for amendment to the regulation, including:

requests for information on offers/tariffs for electronic communications services;
requests for information about premium channels;
requests for additional statistical information;
requests for statistical information about 5G retail services.

The draft to amend the Regulation will also:

Update the structure of the questionnaire, creating separate modules to facilitate identification of the reporting of the various services by providers and, consequently, interaction with providers on this matter;
Consolidate, integrate and reformulate remaining requests for information according to their periodicity;
Adapt the information collected to current needs, including the need to respond to requests for information from national and international entities, and requests for information from other national regulatory authorities of the European Union;
Eliminate indicators with low response rates, with a reduced relative weight and those associated with services whose development did not correspond to initial expectations or which have reached the end of their life cycle;
Differentiate the collection of less common services in order to facilitate the identification of reporting obligations by providers, specifically:

voice service indicators, distinguishing voice services originating/terminating on PNN numbers in over-the-top situations;
indicators on other services with emphasis on specific services such as:

personal mobile communications service via satellite;
mobile communications service on board aircraft (MCA);
mobile communications service on board vessels (MCV);
virtual private network (VPN) service;

Identify new technological and market realities and unsatisfied information requirements, adapting existing definitions to current needs and creating new indicators, including:

access and traffic indicators for 5G retail services with a view to monitoring the development of retail services supported over the new 5G networks. These indicators were requested on a monthly basis during 2022, and will be required on a quarterly basis from 2023 onwards, allowing providers to prepare their information systems to compile information on the use of this technology;
mobile access and traffic indicators for 4G retail services needed for responses to international questionnaires and the monitoring of technological development in conjunction with indicators on new 5G networks;
indicators on subscription TV signal distribution service tariffs and accesses with integrated on-demand video streaming services, enabling analysis of the value of the integration of over-the-top services in electronic communications offers and oversight of the activity of electronic communications service providers;
indicators on the number of customers (residential and non-residential) of services supported over high-speed networks with a breakdown of data by technology, required for responses to international questionnaires, monitoring the level of development of networks and services and market analysis;
indicators on subscribers subject to contractual lock-in periods, distinguishing initial lock-in agreements and the number of months in question and indicators on acquired and lost customers, identifying the number of new customers and the number of customers with expired/terminated contracts, with a view to monitoring competitive dynamics in these markets. These indicators were requested and validated within the scope of the request for complementary statistical information that took place in 2021;
indicators on suspension of services associated with non-payment, allowing the monitoring of service affordability and consumer needs;
number of customers, accesses, traffic and a breakdown of revenues by segment (residential) of the different fixed and mobile electronic communications services and bundled services, for the purpose of monitoring the activity of electronic communications service providers by segment. Most of these indicators were requested and validated within the scope of the request for complementary statistical information that took place in 2021;
indicators on bundled services by service, with identification of the number of SIM cards integrated in convergent bundles, also allowing identification of single-play accesses, with a view to overseeing the activity of electronic communications service providers and monitoring the functioning of the markets;
indicators on devices associated with accesses, including smartphones and eSIMS (in the case of the mobile service), and TV Boxes (in the case of the subscription TV service), allowing the monitoring of consumer needs;
access and traffic associated with internet via satellite, including a breakdown of data by contracted download speed, required for responses to international questionnaires and to oversee the activity of providers of electronic communications services supported by this technology;
aggregation and adequacy of download speed tiers for indicators on the number of Internet accesses at a fixed location by technology based on international requests for information;
indicators on the internet social tariff incorporating the number of accesses, accesses preceded by activation services or access equipment, accesses according to consumed traffic, traffic volume and associated revenues, in order to monitor application of the measure, complementing this data with indicators obtained directly from the Social Tariff Platform;
indicators with geographic breakdown by NUTSI (Mainland Portugal, Autonomous Region of the Azores and Autonomous Region of Madeira) concerning traffic of the various electronic communications services, to monitor development of services at territorial level and for responding to information requested by regional entities. Some of these indicators were requested and validated within the scope of the request for additional statistical information that took place in 2021;
listing of all offers/tariffs of electronic communications services and listing of all premium channels made available, with the respective number of subscribers, for provision to Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Statistics Portugal) for the purpose of calculating the Consumer Price Index (CPI), so that the profile of use of electronic communications services used in this context can be updated and improved. At the same time, it will make it possible to monitor the activity of electronic communications service providers and monitor the functioning of the markets where they operate. This set of indicators is restricted to providers with a customer share of more than 5% in the last quarter of the previous calendar year;
indicators on the number of roaming IN mobile accesses (voice and Internet) and the volume of Roaming IN internet traffic by parish, with a view to sharing (aggregated) information with Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Statistics Portugal) under point 2 of clause 3 of the protocol signed with this institute;
indicators on the specific numbering range for broadcast services used for the provision of machine-to-machine services, exclusive mobile Internet access services and eCall communications, with a view to monitoring these services and monitoring the use of the new numbering range.

Implementation of this new set of indicators may, initially in the case of some indicators, require companies to adapt their information systems. It is considered, however, that the advantages resulting from the new questionnaires more than make up for the additional resources required in the implementation of the new indicators. These advantages stem from the need to adapt requests for information to ANACOM's needs and to new technological and market realities, as well as to requests for information from international authorities and agencies. The new indicators will also provide for increased reliability, comparability and quality in the compiled information and for increased efficiency, combining different questionnaires and increasing coordination between the various requests for information. It will also lead to a reduction in the number of indicators.

The new set of indicators will be composed of new indicators, indicators already existing in Regulation no. 255/2017 and other indicators from ad-hoc requests.

The draft regulation will be published in the 2nd series of Diário da República (Official Journal). Subsequent to publication, interested parties are given a period of 30 working days to send contributions, in writing and in Portuguese, by email to regulamento.informa@anacom.pt.

Consult:

Approval of the draft regulation amending Regulation no. 255/2017 of 16 May https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1740594

Aviso n.º 2409/2023, de 3 de fevereiro https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1737816